The Traitor of Camp HalfBlood
by Silverhand9028
Summary: As six new demigods arrive at Camp, betrayal is in the air and one member of the Camp is a double agent for forces of evil. Can the half-bloods solve the mystery before it's too late?
1. Chapter 1 The Calm before the Storm

**Hey guys!**

**This is my second fanfic, my first is a Hunger Games one so be sure to check that out!**

**I would like to dedicate this Chapter to my good friend ChildOfWisdom, who invented the character Veronica.**

**Thanks,**

**-Silverhand9028**

**Tom's POV**

My name is Thomas Wright. I'm fourteen years old, I have tawny brown hair and sky blue eyes. I'm quite a troublesome kid, restless and a bit mischievous. I can never sit still, I hate the stuffy classrooms at school. I like to be on the road with my mom in our RV. My mom's the best: she hates sitting still too, she has to be travelling and on the go.

That's how she met my Dad. He was hitchhiking and she picked him up. A romance blossomed and before long, I came along.

I never met Dad. He left before I was born. On the road again, Mom tells me.

I'm a pretty disruptive student when it comes to school: I'll fidget in my seat and pickpocket pencils from my classmates.

That was how I got in trouble. Stealing Summer Song's ruler.

Summer Song is in my music class. She's thirteen, with tanned skin, brown eyes and long, blonde hair. She was wearing white shorts and a yellow sleeveless tee. She's top of the class in music, which isn't surprising. She has a naturally gorgeous voice and plays guitar too. Our teacher, Miss Avia, says she has 'natural music talent'.

"Tom Wright, leave Summer alone now!" Miss Avia had screamed.

"Here's you ruler Summer," I said, dropping the nicked item into her hand.

Summer wasn't listening, she was too busy scribbling some poetry homework we had to do for English.

"Thanks Tom," she murmured.

"Oh, and erm, here's your pen, and sharpener."

I dropped two more stolen items.

"Mr Wright!" screeched Miss Avia. "Stealing three items of a fellow classmate is strictly prohibited! Detention afterschool!"

I sighed.

Suddenly, Summer opened her mouth and sung beautifully, "_In your face Tom, you're not even buff, teach you not to steal my stuff!"_

I glared at Summer as the class erupted in giggles

"Miss Song!" rasped the teacher, "do not mock another student! You have detention now too!"

Summer sank dejectedly into her seat.

**Summer's POV**

I walked into the detention room that day to find four more people there.

The first, of course, was the boy who lived in the RV: Tom Wright.

The second was a boy I recognised. He was fifteen, big and butch, with a close-shaven head. He was Leon Jones, a violent and strong student who was either feared, hated or respected. He wore a scarlet muscle shirt, black sweats and black leather boots. With his fierce temper and huge strength, who knows what kind of trouble he had landed himself in to get him put in detention?

The second was Veronica Riddel. Veronica had dark brown hair that was plaited down her back, and chocolate-coloured eyes. She wore a knee-length black dress, and looked like some kind of warrior princess. She had a sharp mind and quick-thinking planning skills, so my best guess for her detention would be her smart comebacks that often left the teacher standing bewildered and annoyed with her wise talk.

Next was Toby Vin. Toby was loud and loutish, who always got in trouble for talking in class. He had curly black hair and dark skin, and often sported a massive grin. He was famous for holding huge parties at his mom's massive house, in which hilarious and embarrassing photos often ended up on Facebook. It didn't take someone as smart as Veronica to work out he was in trouble for his loud and bubbly nature.

Finally I noticed Lilly Amora. Lilly had wavy red hair, and whilst many others got teased for their carrot-coloured hair, it was agreed that Lilly's only made her look prettier. She was slim, but not too skinny, with red lips and blue eyes. Many girls envied her looks. I knew why she was in detention: the school went into shock after she broke up with her long-time boyfriend, and she had worn a _very_ short dress in the hope of bagging another, one so short the teachers had had a fit!

Suddenly, the door swung open and Miss Avia walked in. She had black greasy hair that hung around her long, thin face.

"Children!" she yelled shrilly, "You are all in detention today!"

"_Never," _muttered Veronica sarcastically, but the teacher ignored her.

"Toby Vin, for his loud and disruptive behaviour in class, Veronica Riddel for her rude back-chatting to the teacher, Leon Jones, for breaking school property-"

"You shouldn't have put the African drum on my seat!" yelled Leon, but a glare from Miss Avia silenced him.

"Tom Wright for stealing a pupil's items, Summer Song for her rude lack of respect for her classmates, and Lilly Amora for her despicable school uniform."

"I shouldn't be in here," announced Veronica, "I don't think what I did is worthy of a detention!"

Miss Avia smiled.

"No," she grinned, "only a few students in here deserve a detention. But I put you in because you're easier to prey on when you're all alone!"

"What?"

Miss Avia didn't answer. But she began to change...


	2. Chapter 2 Welcome to Camp

**Thanks for the hits and reviews peeps!**

**Chapter 2 is here, any ideas who the kids are? Well, they're demigods, but who are their parents... should be a bit obvious tbh :)**

**Review!**

**-Silverhand9028**

**Toby's POV**

I'm sure I haven't got a hangover again... but I can't remember last night, so perhaps I have.

Anyway, seeing your music teacher growing wings is NOT how I like my detentions! But Miss Avia was changing. Feathery wings were sprouting from her back, her beaky nose twisted and claws appeared, ended with sharp, spiky talons.

"Demigods," she rasped, "it is my time to feed!"

She dove from her seat and soared towards us, and I began to realise it wasn't a hangover. This teacher was really a bird, attacking us with claws out...

"Harpy!" hollered a voice.

Miss Avia, or whatever it was, stopped in midair and turned towards the door. Standing there was a boy in my class. His name was Leif Evergreen and he was the strangest kid in my grade.

He had curly hair the colour of gingerbread and walked with a limp. He ate everything on sale in the cafeteria, and much more.

But Lief grabbed a sharp pencil that he always had tucked behind his ear. But as he did, it changed, until he was holding a full spear!

My brain couldn't comprehend what was going on. The weirdest kid in the school, throwing a spear at a deranged bird-like music teacher.

I stood back with shock, and, just my luck, tripped over backwards. A chair was behind me and I fell over backwards, slamming my temple on the floor.

Then... nothing.

**Veronica's POV**

"Ah!" I sat up like a bolt, terrified.

I was in a bed, wrapped up warm and snug, as four square ribbons of early morning sunlight gazed in through the window.

This wasn't my room... where was I?

"Veronica?" the doors to my right opened and Summer walked in. She looked scared and bewildered.

"Summer! Are you alright? What happened?"

Summer shook her head.

"I don't know. I woke up in a room over there, across the corridor."

"Right, the last thing I saw was Leif with a spear at Miss Avia."

"Same here,"

"Was that real? I mean, trying to be realistic here," I said, as I always try to separate fact from fiction.

Summer didn't say anything.

"What about the others?" she asked.

"I don't know," I shrugged.

"Summer?" called a voice.

Tom Wright walked through the door, and I got up out of the bed.

"Where are we?" he asked.

"I'm not sure," I told him, "but I think we're about to find out..."

I gestured with my hand, and, down some stairs outside my doorway, with his pencil/spear tucked behind his ear, was Lief.

And he wasn't alone.

**Lilly's POV**

Waking up in a creepy place with my hair in a mess is not a good thing.

Being lead downstairs by a weird food-obsessed kid who just killed a music teacher is even worse.

Being worried sick about my mum, stepdad, half-sisters and dog Lovebite is really not a good thing at all.

And chipping my nail on the doorframe is just unnecessarily cruel.

But six of us were being led by Lief down a winding stairway and outside.

"This is Camp Half-Blood," he said.

There were countless little cabins to my left, with a creek and forest over on the other side. Kids were shooting bows – without chipping nails I'm not sure how – and kids were running around with swords and spears and things.

"Woah," gasped Veronica.

"Cool," murmured Leon.

"Incredible," whispered Tom.

"AAAAAHHH!" I screamed.

"What?" gasped Summer.

"I am homesick, hallucinating, in a place I've never been before and I've just seen a dorky little kid kill a teacher!"

I try not to have these breakdowns, I really do. But they just happen.

"Lilly, I'm sorry," replied Lief, "but all will become clear. I'll just take you to see the Camp Director," he turned to Toby, "and your father."


	3. Chapter 3 True Parentage

**OH MY GOD!**

**I never get reviews to my stories, but loads of positive reviews, feedback and favourites have come through! I feel so happy, keep on reading!**

**In answer to your questions: **

**Yes, romance will be involved, but not in the way you expect...**

**Lief is talking to Toby not Lilly when he says 'your father'!**

**Also, I have to apologise, lots of people are annoyed by the way I spell things, but I am British and I have different words, so sorry to all Americans!**

**But thank you for the feedback, this is incredible! Thanks to ChildOfWisdom also, for putting this story on her profile, this chapter is for you!**

**-Silverhand9028**

**Leon's POV:**

The little scrawny kid who is fun to beat up took us down a path. We saw two people waiting. The first was a man with a close-cropped beard and... HORSE'S LEGS! I'm being serious, from the waist down he had a horse's body! The second man was smaller and stubbier, with curly hair. He looked... well, drunk as a skunk.

"Mr D, Chiron," Lief addressed the men, "these are six new half-bloods."

"Good work, Leafy," the drunk one said.

"Lief, Mr D."

"Whatever!"

Lief bowed for some reason, then ran away.

"Right, you're half-bloods then?" The man, Mr D, asked.

"Half what?" asked Veronica.

Mr D grinned.

"Half human," he smirked, "and half god."

"I'm atheist," I said.

Mr D chortled.

"Listen here, Leonidas-" the horse-man hybrid said.

"Nobody calls me that!" I roared, "especially not stupid horse mutants! Anyway, how do you know my real name?,

"I am Chiron," said the horse-man, "a Centaur. We do exist, as do all other Greek myths. The Olympian Gods are alive in America, and, more importantly, having children with mortals. They create demigods, or half-bloods."

Silence.

"I don't believe you!" yelled Toby. He turned to walk, but Mr D called out:

"Tobias Vin! How is my dear Sandra?"

Toby stopped.

"How do you know my mom?"

"I am Dionysius, God of Wine, Celebration and Theatre. Toby Vin, I am also your father."

**Summer's POV**

Mr D told us all. Monsters, gods, heroes and myths.

Real.

Unbelievable.

I didn't really believe it fully. I think deep down in my heart, I knew. But it was too much to take.

Until I was claimed.

I didn't like the Hermes Cabin. Nimble-looking thieves eyeing up my purse – it reminded me of Tom. I think Tom probably fitted in there better than me. Then we had been assigned to lessons. Arts and crafts was okay, canoeing meant I fell in the canoe lake and archery was next. I had never done archery, it sounded boring.

A son of Apollo called Jack Price was there.

"Draw back the bow to your chin, and release it when it faces the target."

Toby let it go, he hit a tree.

Leon let it go, he hit the bottom of the target.

Lilly let it go, she broke a nail and had a breakdown. Although to be fair, she hit the target.

I let it go. _Thwack_. Bullseye.

Suddenly, everyone screamed.

"What's that?" gasped Tom.

"It's a harp I think," muttered Veronica.

"It's a lyre," breathed Jack Price. "Sister, welcome to the Apollo cabin."

I swallowed.

"What? Apollo?"

"Makes sense!" gasped Veronica, "He's god of music and poetry, two of your hobbies!"

I nodded, and looked up at the floating lyre.

"Hello Dad," I grinned.

**There you go, another chapter down and two demigods claimed. Who's next? Chapter dedications for correct guesses on who's godly parent** **is who's.**

**Hope you liked it, keep on reviewing!**

**-Silverhand9028**


	4. Chapter 4 Staking Claims

**Hello all!**

**I can't believe all the feedback I've got, I usually only update once or twice a week, but you guys have been asking for more so I'm trying (but don't quote me on this) to give you daily updates, which is hard, seeing as I have a maths exam in a few weeks! :(**

**But your reviews, hits and visits are keeping me going so recommend this to your friends! **

**Anyone guessed who Veronica and Tom's parents are? Because you, and them, are about to find out...**

**This chapter is dedicated once again to ChildOfWisdom but also to her friend Sam! :)**

**-Silverhand9028**

**Tom's POV:**

"Tom Wright!"

I stepped up to the arena. A son of Athena, and a son and daughter of Ares were giving sword-fighting lessons.

"I've never done this before," I muttered.

"Don't worry," the daughter of Ares told me, "I asked a Hephaestus kid to make a sword based on your measurements."

I nodded as I received a Celestial bronze sword. The son of Athena stepped up. "I'm about your height," he said, "so spar with me. I'll try a simple stab, try and block it. Then you try a lunge on me – don't worry, I can take it."

He slowly went for me, I put up my sword and defended it.

"Not bad, work on power – that was very light. Now, try on me."

I stepped forward, swung the sword with deliberately more power, and it clanged down on his sword.

"Good, I like your footwork. Very nimble."

Suddenly, a yell was heard from the crowd: "Maia!"

"Agh!"

I'm not sure what happened, but the next thing I knew, I was floating.

In mid-air.

"Aaagh, what the hell?" I yelled.

"His shoes!" gasped someone. I looked down at my favourite Adidas trainers. From the heels, two pairs of ivory-white feathered wings had appeared.

"What?" I muttered.

Then, I heard: "A caduceus! A Son of Hermes!"

Above my head was a glowing staff, entwined with twin snakes.

A caduceus, symbol of the god of roads, thieves, merchants and travellers. Hm, I guess I fit right in!

The shoes dropped me back to my feet.

"What shoes were they?" asked a voice. I turned to see Veronica, wearing a newly-pressed orange camp tee. Summer was beside her, hair golden hair tied back into a high ponytail. The sun had bought out a maze of cute little freckles on her face.

"I don't know!" I gasped, scared. "They just flew!

"Hmmm..." Veronica put on her wise face (well, her normal face is her wise face, but she had her double wise face on). "I can deduce that the word 'Maia'-"

"Agh!" the shoes briefly fluttered off the ground.

"Idiot!"

"The shoes look fun," giggled Summer, a happy, summery little giggle.

"Anyway, we now know for certain those words cause the shoes to fly. So we need to work out who said it."

"The voice sounded disguised, like someone was trying to change their voice." Summer suggested.

"Alright, we should do a search."

"Wise choice, Veronica," I shrugged.

Suddenly, a glowing owl appeared.

"Athena!" cried Veronica.

"Well, you are the clever one," Summer smiled.

Veronica blushed as some new half-siblings took her away, leaving just me and Summer.

"Well, Snake-face?"

"Huh?" I asked.

She giggled again, like wind chimes in the midsummer breeze.

"Well, Caduceus-face doesn't work," she smiled.

"Yeah, erm... Arrow-head?"

We exploded in giggles, then stopped instantly together, which made us laugh even more.

Little did we know, someone was watching us...

**Oooh... cliffhanger! Are you scared? Because in the next update, things get even weirder...**

**-Silverhand9028**


	5. Chapter 5 Like a Hound out of Hell

**Hey guys, take it slow, I can't update every hour!**

**Alright, I'll update as soon as possible...**

**Sorry for all the Veronitom (ha, I like that) fans but I think Summer goes better with him.. will Veronica get a guy? You'll just have to wait and see...**

**Time for Lilly and Leon to be claimed, but who by? That's kind of obvious actually...**

**Now, time for a new character to be introduced... and I should warn you, all is not as it seems!**

**Enjoy,**

**-Silverhand9028**

**Lilly's POV:**

The beautiful dove burned brightly over my head.

"Aphrodite," I smiled.

"That explains your uselessness with a sword," grinned Leon.

I rolled my eyes. Leon only thinks with violence. I'm sure there's something loving under there...

"I'm not that bad.." I murmured.

"Dude, you picked up the sword and fell over!"

"Shut up!"

"You should use a knife!" called a voice.

I turned to see a girl strolling towards us. She had shoulder-length blonde hair, the tips and fringe (**A/N bang to you Americans)** were dip-dyed black. Her Camp t-shirt was ripped down to a sleeveless top showing her belly. She wore ripped jeans, black boots and spiked bracelets up her arm. But her eyes were phenomenal – shifting into many rainbow colours, forever twisting like an absorbing kaleidoscope, shrouded with secrets and mystery.

"Swords are too heavy and clumsy," she said, "I'll give you knife training you won't live without."

She turned on her black boots and strolled out.

"Who was that?" I murmured.

A son of Aphrodite called Aston walked up. "Her name's Magenta Mirage. Daughter of Morpheus, God of Dreams. She's weird, but all her cabin are."

"As weird as her?" murmured Leon.

Aston shrugged.

"No, most of them just daydream all day – or sleep. But there's something about her... something shifty, like she's up to something."

Magenta was slinking round the corner slyly, like a stoat sneaking through a rabbit's hole.

"Well," I announced, "I'll say yes about the knife training, see what she's up to. Work something out."

"Smart," shrugged Leon. He almost looked... impressed?

**Toby's POV:**

I heard a beautiful noise as I meandered through the woods. There was a loud, gorgeous voice pealing out like wind chimes, accompanied by the gentle strum of a guitar. I followed the noise to find three people sat by the creek on a log.

The first was Summer, the source of the sound, who was strumming a few chords out on her guitar. The second was Tom, humming along as he sharpened his sword. The last was Veronica, on Summer's other side, smiling up at her best friend. After all, these three shared the closest friendship in the Camp.

"Hi Toby!" Tom grinned, waving.

"Hey guys!" I smiled, sitting beside Tom as Summer finished the song with a perfectly harmonised 'Ooooh'.

"Hi" the girls chorused at once.

"Where's Lilly?" asked Summer.

"Down by the Morpheus Cabin. A girl said she'd train her with a knife."

"Cool. What about Leon?"

"Didn't you here? He sliced up a dummy so well, everyone was really impressed. You'll never guess what: he got claimed!"

"Who by?" Tom asked, leaning forward.

"Ares, I'd guess!" Veronica reasoned.

I nodded. "Got it in one. He's at their Cabin, you know the one-"

Suddenly: "Aaahh!" a young girl in a lime green chiton tore through the undergrowth, her auburn hair flailing out behind her.

"What?" cried Tom, standing up, but the girl didn't stop.

"Was that a dryad?" asked Summer, setting down the guitar.

"I dunno," Tom murmured.

Another dryad followed suit, with a satyr behind her.

"Hellhound!" he screamed.

"_Hellhound?" _gasped Veronica.

But sure enough_, _a vicious, unearthly howl pierced the air.

Tom picked up his sword, and Veronica unsheathed hers. Summer grabbed her quiver and notched her bow. I glanced around timidly and picked up the little sword I kept on my belt.

A satyr ran through the forest, but he stopped when he saw us.

"Lief?" cried Veronica.

Lief nodded. "I saw a hellhound! Run!"

He tore away, which was odd because he didn't seem that panicked.

"I say we go," Veronica reasoned, "we're unexperienced and-"

Everything happened in a second.

A black furry wolf-like beast, taller than all of us, leapt out at us, snarling viciously.

Tom ran forward light-footedly, slicing in a heavily practised arc. Summer stepped back and fired an arrow, as I brought up my sword in defence.

All of a sudden, three figures ran in. The first was from behind us, a burly boy of sixteen in an apron, wielding a hammer. The next two I recognised: the weird daughter of Morpheus, Magenta and Jack, a son of Apollo.

Magenta drew a knife but didn't do anything, and Jack stopped too, but the boy charged forward just as the beast was about to bite off Veronica's arm.

Veronica breathed out as the beast was knocked down. Chiron suddenly cantered through the bushes and shot down the dying beast with a single arrow.

"A hellhound?" he mused, as the large group of us stood round the corpse.

"Who let it in?" I wondered.

"It wasn't me!" Magenta glowered.

"Nor me!" Jack defiantly stated.

"Well who was it?" Chiron demanded.

**Who do you think it was? Tom? Veronica? Summer? Toby? Magenta? Jack? The other boy? Or someone else entirely...**

**Sorry for the late update, hope you like it!**

**-Silverhand9028**


	6. Chapter 6 Walking Nightmare

**Yay, more reviews by the day!**

**In answer to your questions: **

**AphroditeMatch Maker, yes I did make the storyline up by myself, and sorry for not pairing Veronica and Tom together.**

**wbasoccer, sorry I will stay in one POV per chapter unless absolutely necessary.**

**Pokemonchen, you didn't ask a question but thank you for reviewing and I love your name :D**

**Now for Chapter Six, and things get (you guessed it) even weirder... and sinister!**

**-Silverhand9028**

**Lilly's POV:**

I approached the Morpheus Cabin, Cabin Twenty-One warily. It was very small, painted black, but flashes of light came from within the windows. Little spikes stuck up from the domed roof, forming a dark crown. The door, a petite arch-shape, had a brass closed eye on the front. I stepped up to the door, and, to my alarm, the closed eye opened.

"Ah!" I screamed, jumping back.

A little white light shone from the pupil.

"Who is it?" called a voice.

"Erm... Lilly Amora, Daughter of Aphrodite. I brushed back a strand of red hair. "Magenta said she'd train m-"

I hadn't even finished my sentence when the eye closed and the door swung open. I descended into the gloom.

Once I reached inside I saw it was surprisingly light.

Several lava lamps were the only light source, but I could see just fine. Bunk beds were dotted around, with children in them. A few were asleep, a couple reading, some just sitting there staring into nothingness, daydreaming.

Dreamcatchers and odd-looking murals were dotted around the ceiling. I saw that the windows visible from the outside weren't even there.

"Lilly," a formal tone addressed me. I turned to see a placidly white boy with long pale hair over his forehead. His eyes, the same absorbing colour as Magenta's, shone with curiosity, like he was reading my soul. I felt scared, unnerved and awed all at once.

"Magenta is awaiting you in our private arena."

"The what?"

I glanced around to see that the cabin was actually much bigger than how it looked on the outside. However, apart from the door I had came in, no more doors.

"Arena?" I asked, "where?"

The pale boy pointed with a long, bony finger and a door I'm sure wasn't there before stood in that exact spot, standing innocently like it had been there all along.

I walked, confused and scared, through the door.

The door led underground, until I found myself in a wide cavern. Leaning against the wall, in her ripped clothes, with her choppy blonde hair swept over her left eye, stood Magenta. In one hand, she held a hardback book which she had almost finished.

Without looking up, she grinned "Ah, Lilly,"

I smiled awkwardly as Magenta folded down the corner of the page and closed the book.

Magenta looked up.

I gave her the briefest of smiles.

Magenta didn't return it.

Silence.

"Erm... almost finished your book," I muttered, at a hope of sparking up conversation.

"Started it while I was waiting for you. What took you?"

"Didn't you hear? Someone let a _hellhound _into camp!"

Magenta nodded: "Of course I did. We may be shut off from everyone in our cabin but we still know. I mean, I was there!"

"What?" I gasped, "it was just a few minutes ago! How did-"

Magenta put the book down beside her.

"It doesn't matter. You came here for knife training. I'll give you it."

An hour later, I ascended from the Morpheus Cabin. I found Leon, slashing at dummies with strength and vigour.

"Hey, Leon!"

Leon stopped, his double-handed sword wedged in the throat of the straw mannequin.

"Hi Lilly. How was knife training?"

"Good – it's lighter and easier than a sword, and much better too."

"Better?" he scoffed, pulling his sword out of the dummy and swinging it round.

I grinned competitively.

"I don't feel like a daughter of Aphrodite any more, you should be warned. Watch these skills!"

I grabbed my knife and went for him. He grinned, easily deflected the shot and lunged with his sword.

_Duck._

_Swipe._

_Parry._

_Stab._

_Block._

_Slash._

_Dodge._

_Stumble._

_Hit._

_Swipe._

_Fall._

_Pain._

"Oh my god!" I screamed.

Leon, too bulky to dodge my swipe, clutched the bloodstained patch on his side.

"Leon!" I screamed.

A medic from Apollo ran over, aware of the panic.

I sobbed, but he put his brave face on. He was loaded on a stretcher and carried to the Big House.

"Leon..."

**Unknown Person's POV:**

She did it. I knew it. She got him.

I have to congratulate Magenta. Taught her well, whilst I was jinxing Leon well. He walked through the forest – too easy a target. I knew what would happen: one simple bit of magic, and he won't be able to dodge her.

Perfect.

Now to visit him whilst he's unconscious: he won't ever wake up...

**BOO! Told you things were gonna go weird! Who's that Unknown Person? Clue: the same person who was watching Tom and Summer a few chapters ago. Any ideas? What about Magenta, what part did she play? Well, you'll just have to wait and see!**

**-Silverhand9028**


	7. Chapter 7 Called to Order

**Hi!**

**Thanks for reviewing again, a lot of you have said that you liked the characters but some wanted more descriptions. **

**Also, AphroditeMatch Maker: Tom and Veronica have swords, Summer a bow and arrows, Toby a sword, Lilly a knife and Leon prefers his double-handed sword but he will fight with anything. Also, thank you for the outfit ideas.**

**AnnabethChaseMoA: It says some of their ages in Chapter 1 but just in case: Tom is 14, Summer is 13, Leon is 15, Veronica is 13, Toby is almost 14 and Lilly is 14.**

**This Chapter is dedicated to ChildOfWisdom again, for putting this on her profile AND her story, it's brought me so much attention so I have to thank you! :D**

**Also I'd like to thank Hanzi55, Daughter of Zeus!**

**-Silverhand9028**

**Summer's POV**

Lilly was slumped in a chair with her head in her hands. Tom was pacing backwards and forwards, Veronica had her arm around me. Leon was lying on a bed in the Big House, a cool cloth on his head and a medic from Apollo testing his pulse.

Suddenly, Toby ran in, his curly hair streaking behind him. He wore a purple party shirt, skinny jeans and dark pumps.

"Tom, Summer, Veronica: Chiron wants us downstairs for a meeting," he said, then turned on his heel and ran out.

Tom looked back at Leon. He was dressed quite nicely in a woollen grey hoodie (**A/N Americans do use that word right?**) and charcoal coloured chinos. Veronica broke away from me,

"Come on Summer," she beckoned. She was dressed gorgeously in a royal blue knee-length dress with a stony grey trim. She also wore chocolatey brown Veronica Frye boots with her hair plaited as usual.

I followed my best friends out and down the winding staircase to a meeting room in the Big House where we found all the people who were present at the hellhound attack.

Jack from Apollo was chatting to the big burly boy from Hephaestus who was wearing a leather apron over his Camp shirt. Magenta was there too, but daydreaming as usual. Two nervous dryads and a satyr sat twittering quietly.

As we sat beside Toby, Chiron smiled.

"Ah, you three," he greeted us, "I have called a meeting with everybody who was present during the hellhound attack. Now, we need to work out who sent the hound."

Silence.

"Well, it wasn't me!" declared Jack.

"Nor me!" Magenta added.

The two dryads exchanged glances.

"Chiron, sir," one said.

"Yes Rosa?"

"The hellhound was heading for the four demigods. It ignored us and only stopped when it found Toby, Summer, Veronica and Tom."

"Thank you," Chiron mused.

"All the strange things have only happened once we knew the demigods were all in the same school," the boy from Hephaestus spoke up. "I'd guess there's a connection."

Chiron nodded, "As a matter of fact, that's true! Good observation Eddie."

The boy, Eddie smiled.

"Strange stuff?" I asked.

Chiron nodded. "You see child, Lief sniffed you out and sent a message that he had found you at school. However, the next day, the Camp's barriers seemed to... malfunction. Nobody could get in or out. It was like someone had placed a curse on Thalia's tree. Then later, a beast that had died long ago attacked: the Erymanthian Boar. Now that you're here, someone has summoned a hellhound to kill you."

I swallowed.

"Is there anyone else who was there?" asked Eddie trivially.

We all shook our heads.

"There were a few satyrs in the forest," recalled Veronica, "but I only recognised Lief."

"Hmm..." Eddie looked deep in thought: "We should ask them where they saw it." He turned to Rosa, the dryad.

"Can you ask everyone who was there at the time what they saw?" he asked.

Rosa got up and left.

"Good sleuthing there Eddie," Chiron was clearly impressed, Eddie had brains for a child of Hephaestus, "I didn't think anyone would cope with this change but-"

Eddie grinned: "Intelligence is the ability to adapt to change."

Chiron was baffled but Veronica shrieked beside me: "That's a Stephen Hawking quote!"

Tom erupted with laughter, "Never had you pegged for a science geek Veronica!"

Veronica blushed but Eddie laughed.

Chiron nodded, keen to continue. "Well, we'll continue the talk some other time. We have a bit of information, and I'll send searches in the woods. If push comes to shove, we'll examine the cabins."

Magenta and Jack exchanged worried glances but I said nothing.

"Right," Chiron finished, "meeting adjourned!"

**There you go!**

**Oooh spooky! What do you think of Eddie eh? **

**PS, I've just noticed in a previous chapter I said the word 'bang', trying to use American words (because here we say 'fringe') but the word is apparently 'bangs' so I must apologise!**

**Thanks!**

**-Silverhand9028**


	8. Chapter 8 To Dream or not to Dream

**WOW!**

**I've had so many reviews, I can't believe it! Thank you all so much you're the best! This Chapter is dedicated to quite a few people:**

**ChildOfWisdom: for advertising this story!**

**Her best friend Sam: for reviewing, liking this story and being cool :D**

**AphroditeMatch Maker: for always giving me criticism, advice and feedback!**

**And everyone else who's read this: thank you so much!**

**-Silverhand9028**

**Lilly's POV **(I know, again!)

Why was I still sitting by Leon?

Toby had scampered down to party in the mess hall and hadn't come back.

The medic from Apollo had left for Capture the Flag.

But I...

well, I couldn't.

I've never really spoken to him before at school, barely even knew him before we got to camp. But now...

something's changed.

I lay back in the comfy little chair. I'd figure something out. But for now, it was time to sleep.

Dreams.

More than dreams.

Visions. Illusions. Nightmares.

I didn't really believe Chiron when he told us demigods have dreams that show us things: visions. I'd never had them before – well not until tonight...

I was standing in the Underworld. I could see a shade being dragged off to Elysium, but he was screaming, begging. With a gasp, I realised the shade was Leon.

"LEON!" I screamed, running for him.

But it was no good.

Suddenly, the silhouette of a man appeared beside me.

He raised a hand.

Suddenly, I felt I could run like a cheetah. Leon slowed down and I grabbed him. The man had... slowed down time!

Then, the dream changed...

A grey, bare land, with no sky, no sea, no sun, no stones, nothing. Just a grey floor.

But three people I recognised where standing talking.

The first was Magenta, brushing back her black-tipped locks.

The second was Jack, from Apollo, who was standing with his arms folded, chatting seriously.

Finally stood Aston,from Aphrodite, dressed smartly in skinny jeans and a leather jacket.

Magenta turned and saw me. She smirked.

"Ah, Lilly. Nice of you to join us."

"What?"

"I'm Daughter of the God of Dreams - I can do stuff like this."

"I don't understand, why are you sending me dreams. Did you send the one..."

"About Leon? Yes."

"Lilly," my charismatic counsellor Aston addressed me, "Leon could be snatched from you. But with the help of our master, we will reverse time."

Magenta smiled. "We'd like you to help us in bringing back our Lord, the true God of Time. He is-"

"I don't want to hear it!" I yelled at the top of my voice. I put my hands in my ears and shouted to avoid hearing what they said, but it only muffled it.

The word... must've been... the muffled voice Magenta spoke in made it hard to comprehend, but I could've sworn she said Kronos.

I woke up terrified to the sound of hooves.

"Chiron?" I muttered. But it wasn't Chiron. It was Lief.

"Oh, hey Lief," I smiled.

Lief grinned. "Sorry I wasn't in my shoes, my hooves must've woken you up."

"It's OK," I assured him. "It's breakfast now, anyway," I said, glancing at my watch.

Lief bleated nervously: "So it is. Well, let's go downstairs – perhaps I'll visit Lief later today..."

**There you go!**

**:O Spooky!**

**What are Magenta, Jack and Aston doing, and why do they want Lilly to help?**

**Who is their master?**

**Who has been watching the heroes through the story?**

**Oh, I'm going to draw an illustration of one of the characters and put it as my avatar, but you get to decide which character! It could be:**

**Tom, Veronica, Summer, Lilly, Leon, Toby, Eddie, Magenta, Aston, Jack or Lief.**

**VOTE VOTE VOTE!**

**-Silverhand9028**


	9. Chapter 9 War and Chaos

**Hey guys, two new announcements!**

**Tomorrow is my birthday so I will not be doing a chapter – sorry but it's my special day and I will be doing one the day after, and this Chapter is very, very long, and very tense (plenty of action)!**

**There is a three-way tie between who I should draw:**

**Veronica, because everyone likes her**

**Magenta, because people wanted to see what she looked like **

**The main six, because it would be fair**

**So I will put a poll up: you can vote for Magenta, Veronica, all six, or the full body of all six changing over a six-week span.**

**So VOTE VOTE VOTE!**

**Thanks for reviewing, it makes my day!**

**-Silverhand9028**

**Toby's POV**

Our cabin is AMAZING! On the outside,grapevines up the walls of what looks like a normal Greek vineyard building. But inside, there's a vending machine on the wall, with a mini-theatre and disco ball! After a seriously cool party, I didn't get up until it was nearly midday. But at half past eleven, I stumbled groggily out of bed to find my five best friends having a terrified argument.

"You're sure?" asked Leon – I was surprised to see him out of bed.

"Positive," nodded Lilly.

"What's going on guys?" I asked.

Lilly was wearing a miniskirt and Camp t-shirt, and her strawberry hair waved like a carrot-coloured waterfall as she turned to face me.

"Toby, you have to help us!" she begged.

"What is it?" I asked, confused.

Veronica, dressed in her orange top and ankle-length oak brown skirt, approached me.

"Magenta, Jack and Aston are part of a plot. They tried to recruit Lilly to help them in their plan."

"Plan to do what?"

"I won't believe Jack could do this!" murmured Summer.

"What?" I yelled, trying to shake an answer out of them. My ADHD and traits of Dionysus made me restless and loud.

"Apparently," Leon said, "Lilly thinks that-"

"Knows that!" corrected Lilly.

"-that they're trying to bring back Kronos."

The conch horn sounded as we filed into the mess hall. I had my short sword strapped to my back as always, as I followed my counsellor Sara into the room. I exchanged glances with Tom. The plan was in action. The trap was set. Could we convince a room full of heavily-armed demigods to believe three of their counsellors were working against us?

We had to try.

"Pass the lemonade, Tobes," a cabin mate asked. I absent-mindedly passed the grape juice, worried to death.

"The lemonade, Toby."

"Oh yeah," I snapped back to reality and passed the half-full jug of bubbling lemonade.

Lilly stood up. My heart was in my mouth as she approached the dreamy table of Morpheus.

Magenta was ignoring her cabin mates and muttering to herself when Lilly tapped her on the shoulder.

I saw them talking, the background noise of the hall drowned out their conversation, but I saw Magenta's suspicious eyes and Lilly's desperate twitches.

Suddenly, I realised what Lilly must have said. The entire Morpheus cabin snapped their heads to Magenta.

"What?" the normally quiet, pale-skinned boy yelled.

It wasn't normal a child of the dream god screamed across the room, so silence gradually fell.

"Kronos?" spat Magenta.

A murmur of shock and horror rippled through the room. Chiron stood up at the mention of his father and even Mr D paled.

Lilly looked terrified, the entire room gasping at her, but she swallowed and continued with the plan: "In that dream you sent me? About Jack, Aston and you trying to raise Kronos."

"I told you, we're not trying to bring back Kronos, we're trying to-"

"You are," Lilly continued the dumb act, "Jack and Aston said-"

An arrow whizzed across the room, centimetres from Lilly's head. Jack and Aston were standing on the tables. Jack had an arrow notched and Aston held a spear in his finely-manicured hands.

"Don't go making up rumours about us," Jack warned, "or things could get ugly!"

Chaos exploded.

The five us grabbed weapons and advanced on Magenta, Jack and Aston.

The campers, unsure of what to do, dropped to the ground. Chiron grabbed his bow, trying to yell for silence amongst the screams and gasps.

Magenta drew her knife and kicked out at Lilly, who toppled back. Lilly grabbed her own knife and lunged forward. Magenta laughed.

"Don't forget who trained you, Lilly! I know your every move!" They leapt on the table and started duelling.

Veronica jumped across tables to the Morpheus one, trying to batt away Magenta. The more experienced knife-wielder knocked Veronica on the cheek with the butt of her knife and turned back to trying to slice up Lilly.

Aston, waving his spear, ran at Tom, but Leon intercepted. Aston screamed like a girl as he slipped onto his face. Summer ran up to me.

"Toby," she warned, "Jack is trying to stop Veronica from beating Magenta!" I turned to see the son of Apollo aiming for Veronica's head.

I heard the helplessness in Summer's voice and I realised Jack was pretty much her idol. He'd taught her archery and music, poetry and prophecy. He was her counsellor and teacher. She couldn't bring herself to attack him.

I nodded, drew my sword from my back and charged. It was timed perfectly. Jack was about to fire his arrow and as my sword knocked him aside, he let the arrow fly and it missed his target completely. Summer ran to Tom and Leon, who were bearing down on Aston. His skills with the spear kept them at bay, but he was weakening. Summer shot and the arrow landed perfectly in the shaft of the spear. Aston screamed in the shock, Leon kicked him down.

One down.

Tom and Summer ran to help me fight Jack. Over my shoulder I saw Magenta.

It wasn't going well. Lilly lay in pain, Magenta's black boots kicking her hard. Veronica's sword had been knocked out of her hands and she was fumbling for it beneath the table. I saw Lilly cry out as Magenta kicked me. I turned to face her.

A big mistake.

Jack's foot knocked into my hip. I fell off the table and onto the floor. Pain seared through my body. Tom sidestepped as Jack drew a knife and slashed wildly at him. He advanced on him, knocking both him and Summer back. They fell to the floor,

Tom clutched a scarlet scratch where an arrow had glanced his arm.

"Tom!" Summer went for a bandage in her pocket but Tom shook his head.

"Summer, Jack's going to kill you if you don't act fast! I'll be fine!"

Summer nodded, and turned to see Jack standing over her on the table.

I saw Jack notch an arrow to his bow as I fell unconscious...

**Summer's POV**

(sorry but I had to change)

I looked up at Jack who was looming over me.

I heard clangs of bronze and steel from Magenta, Veronica and Lilly but I knew if I turned around Jack would shoot me where I stood.

Toby and Tom where down. Leon was busy keeping Aston at bay, and Aston was pretty tough for a child of Aphrodite. Lilly and Veronica were fighting against Magenta. Jack would shoot me down and move on to the other three.

But I couldn't do anything.

When I had been claimed, Jack had taken me into the Cabin and introduced my half-siblings. He'd steadied my aim with the bow, taught me how to play the lyre, even told me the basics of prophecy. He'd sharpened my arrows as he whistled a song I taught him. And now he had an arrow notched at my head.

"Summer," Tom whispered to me, "once Jack's got you he'll move on to Veronica. Veronica, who you've known since you were five. We can find out why he's doing this once we have the upper hand."

I nodded as Tom went to tend to Toby, who lay unmoving.

I notched an arrow and pointed it at Jack. He fired first, but I leapt to the side as it skimmed my leg. I aimed at him.

The arrow whizzed towards him and caught the end of his thigh.

He clutched his leg and a pang of guilt struck me. I faltered but his fake pain caught me off guard. He fired an arrow.

It hit me square in the leg. I screamed and fell to the ground. I saw Aston kick off Leon and disarm him. I saw Magenta knock Lilly off the table. Veronica stood, back to the wall, sword pointed at Magenta. Magenta's knife had been bent and she stood disarmed. Veronica had a sword, her opponent had nothing. Surely that gave her the upper hand...

Yet Magenta smirked.

"Now, Child of Wisdom," she grinned, "watch and learn."

She clasped her hands and opened them, to reveal a two-handed sword. Veronica gasped in shock.

"How did-"

"My father created a whole world of dreams for him and his family to live in. You don't think his daughter can dream up a weapon?"

Magenta grinned, then held the sword above her head.

Veronica gasped.

Tom sobbed.

I screamed.

Magenta bought the sword down...

**Dun dun duuunn...**

**Sorry I had to leave it there, and sorry you'll have to wait till the second of May to get the next Chapter!**

**Thanks for the reviews, remember the poll :D**

**-Silverhand9028**


	10. Chapter 10 Mistakes

**Whew, that last Chapter was long! I've had lots of terrified comments about Veronica, so if you want to know if she will be OK...**

**then read on!**

**Ha ha ha! :D**

**Enjoy reading, Fanficfans! (heh, that's a cool word!) BD**

**-Silverhand9028**

**Veronica's POV**

Magenta snarled at me with pure hate and malice. I was terrified, I knew that at any chance she would kill me!

The sword came down...

_Whack!_

The whack was the sound of a fellow demigod shoving himself into Magenta. She let out a shrill scream as I tried to get a glimpse of the Camper.

He had tousled dark hair, olive skin and a leather apron over his orange t-shirt. He had a hammer in his hands.

"Eddie!" I screamed with delight as he pulled me on to my feet.

He grinned at me, his face streaked with ash. He was surprisingly handsome for a son of a lame, ugly god.

The cowering campers looked up as Jack and Aston backed away.

A few children of Ares, Athena, Apollo and Hermes were on their feet, but unsure of what to do.

Mr D was quivering very un-god-like way beneath his chair, but as eyes swivelled to him he coughed nervously, crawled out and sat regally on his chair, trying to look like he had been sitting there the whole time.

Chiron was standing up, his bow drawn, but I guess he didn't use it in case of killing someone.

He trotted down and towards us. Magenta was lying against a table and scowling at Eddie, whilst Tom, Summer and Toby were slumped in each other's arms. I saw Lilly had crawled over to Leon and was whispering words of encouragement.

"The day the Camp divides is a sad one," Chiron spoke gravely as Eddie wiped dirt from his face. Chiron turned to Magenta, Jack and Aston, "You really intend to resurrect my father?"

"No!" Magenta argued, throwing her knife into a table in frustration, which just so happened to be the Hypnos cabin's. Many Campers sat bolt upright. I was surprised they had slept through the fight.

"Lies!" roared Leon, clutching a bloody knee where Aston's spear had hit. "You just fought us over it!"

"No," Magenta declared, "not Kronos. Lilly must have misheard in the dream message."

"So you did send her a dream message!" hollered Leon.

"Yes," admitted Magenta.

"And summoned the hellhound!" Eddie cried.

"No!" Jack stepped up. "That wasn't us. But we don't want to summon Kronos. We only attacked because we didn't want you spreading rumours about us. We have to prove ourselves. We can't have newbies telling lies."

"Lies? You said you wanted to summon Kronos, Lord of Time."

"Kronos isn't the lord of time!" Aston yelled. "Chronos is!"

"What..." I asked.

"Not K-R-O-N-O-S. C-H-R-O-N-O-S."

"Chronos?" spluttered Eddie.

We looked to Chiron for an explanation.

He stroked his beard: "Kronos is powerful and has great power over time. But he is not Time itself. The embodiment of time is Chronos. Similar, but Chronos has true power over time. Normally he is content to let time pass, but recently he has fallen into slumber so great no-one can pull him out."

Silence.

We looked at Magenta, Jack and Aston. They looked at us.

Embarrassment. Apology. Shock. Suspicion.

Athena knows what was running through my head, but I was pretty damn confused.

Mr D broke the silence. "Well, we have ten injured demigods on our hands. Go to bed the rest of you, I shall get that skilled magic satyr to use some of his woodland healing on you. Lofty, is it?"

"Lief," a small dryad answered, "left during the fight. He said it was 'messing up his aura' and needed to head to the forest."

Mr D nodded. "Alright," he said, "to bed, the lot of you!"

**Confused? Shocked? Hm, all is not as it seems! So are Magenta, Aston and Jack off the hook? What part will Eddie play? Will anything else weird start going on...**

**I will reveal the outcome of the story vote next Chapter. Till then, keep voting! **

**-Silverhand9028**


	11. Chapter 11 Knife Edge

**Thanks for the reviews!**

**Number One: first of all I am not that smart to think up Chronos, I googled it :)**

**Number Two: What's going between Veronica and Eddie? Well, you'll just have to wait and see...**

**Number Three: Yes, I am updating my Hunger Games fanfic, it just took ages! I haven't had any suggestions for tributes so I can't continue as much as I would like to :)**

**And the winner of your picture vote is... all six, one by one!**

**(You guys have to make it awkward, don't you :D)**

**-Silverhand9028**

**Leon's POV**

I stumbled out of the arena, covered in sweat and with my sword hanging from my side. The healers from Apollo worked miracles, but I still felt a bit weak.

"Hey Leon," I looked up and saw Lief approaching me. His pencil was behind his ear, his pan pipes in his hand and a mischievous grin on his freckled face.

"Uh, hey Lief..." this was the scrawny kid who walked with a limp. My idea of a fun day was kicking him into submission, not chatting to him.

"What was it like when you were unconscious?" he asked.

"Erm... boring, really. Just like sleeping, but I kept having little flashes of sight."

"You could see when you were unconscious?" Lief sounded almost scared. "Like, around you."

I nodded. "Yeah, I saw the guy from Apollo healing me, my five friends from school around me, you writing something..."

"Me?" Lief looked at me suspiciously.

"Yeah, you had a pencil out anyway, so I guess it wasn't your spear!" I laughed. Lief laughed along nervously.

"Well, I'm gonna go hit the hay. This satyr fancies a nap!" he trotted off past me. I shrugged, sheathed my sword and approached Lilly. Lilly was walking towards some cabins, with her knife in her belt.

"Hey Lilly," I yelled.

She turned and waved, flashing a gorgeously natural smile – erm, I mean, boring soppy smile – and beckoned me to her.

I jogged until I caught up with her.

"Where are you going?" I asked.

"Knife training," she said uneasily.

"With Magenta? No way! She kicked you off a table!"

"She just wanted privacy-"

"To raise an ancient god who could change time! He could rearrange the entire history of the whole world!"

"Leon, you can't keep holding grudges!"

"I spent the majority of yesterday being speared in the side by your half-brother!" I held up my shirt to show a bloodstained bandage. "Did you really think she was just being friendly? She almost slit your throat! She's dangerous!"

Lilly looked up at me in silence.

"Alright." she gave in.

I smiled. "OK. How about I give you knife training?"

"You can't use a knife!"

"Dude, I'm a Son of Ares! I am a master of every weapon!"

Lilly looked at me, then grinned. "Fine. I know a spot in the woods. Now follow me!"

She turned and bolted for the woods, me straight behind her. She dodged trees until we arrived in a clearing by the creek.

I picked a chipping of wood from the floor and held it like a knife.

"Okay, say this is a knife-"

"It's a piece of wood."

"Have an imagination!"

She spluttered with laughter. "Okay, it's a knife."

A happy hour passed. Pegasi glided overhead whilst splashes of canoe oars were heard against the noise of shouting, yelling and talking.

Eventually, she put her knife away and we sat down on the bank together.

**Unknown Person's POV**

Hm... interesting. A daughter of Aphrodite and a son of Ares.

Who would have thought I would've found them together. But here they were.

Lilly looked into his eyes. He edged towards her. She did the same.

She smiled.

He grinned.

They sat there, awkwardly smiling, until she leant in. He leant towards her. Their lips connected.

They kissed.

And at that one, distracted moment, I put my plan into action. One simple spell. One call into oblivion.

And they answered.

They came.

They struck...

**:O Scared much? :)**

**Who was that, then? Where you surprised about Lilly and Leon? Any ideas, criticisms or theories? **

**-Silverhand9028**


	12. Chapter 12 Love, Betrayal and Evil

**Hey folks :)**

**Time for Chapter 12, hope you are excited! :D**

**Chapter Dedication to AphroditeMatch Maker, for her advice and relationship ideas, much of the plot has come from her!**

**Enjoy,**

**-Silverhand9028**

**Summer's POV**

Pegasi are hard to fly.

The girl in charge, a daughter of Hermes, I think, made it look easy. Leapt delicately on and fluttered like a butterfly. Easy.

The fact that my huge pegasi kicked me off didn't help, I must admit. Or when he buffeted me in the face with his wings. Or got bored mid-flight and set me down in the woods.

In a tree.

Grr...

Veronica, who seemed to adapt to the ride quite well, trotted down beside me.

"Okay Summer?" she asked.

I nodded.

"Blame this stupid pegasus. He decided to dump me here."

Veronica laughed.

"Yeah, it's harder than it lo-"

A laugh came from a little area to the right. We peered through the branches to see Lilly and Leon, sitting by the creek.

They were looking at each other, smiling.

I noticed Leon had a smear of lipstick on his cheek, and they were both blushing.

Veronica noticed it first: "My gods they've been kissing!" she whispered.

I gasped.

"Leon," Lilly said to her companion, "the Fourth of July Fireworks are in a few weeks. I was wondering, do you want to go with me?"

Leon's face lit up, bless him.

"I would like nothing more."

"Aaaw," I grinned.

Veronica looked at me: "Who are you asking?"

"Don't know."

"Are you asking Tom?"

I arched an eyebrow.

"Oh come on, it'd blatantly obvious he fancies you!"

"What?"

"Duh, it's so blatant!"

I faltered.

"Do you like him?" she asked.

"I..." I pondered. "I don't know. I like him, as a friend for sure. He's like my best friend. MY brother. My family. But..."

A bloodthirsty screech pierced through the air.

Leon and Lilly broke away, Lilly grabbing her knife and Leon unsheathing his huge sword.

Veronica and I got our weapons too.

"What was that?" I murmured, nocking an arrow.

I saw the figure in the brush scampering away.

Veronica lunged bravely through the clearing.

"Veronica?" Leon gasped.

I followed her, chasing the little shadow.

"Summer?" Lilly gaped.

Veronica crashed through the undergrowth.

She skidded to the left, spraying mud up the bark of a lime.

"Hey!" a dryad called, but we had already left it in the dust.

Leaves crunched beneath my honey-coloured Converse, as I heard the blow of pipes.

Veronica stopped.

"Gone," she murmured.

"Gone where?" I asked.

"I dunno, I heard a noise, then they just vanished."

I nodded. "Yeah, same here."

All of a sudden, three figures swooped down. They were women, with long greasy hair and hungry snarls. Oh, and wings. Yes, they were all harpies. Again!

The first had bright yellow hair, not blonde, too bright for that. A stark, bold yellow, which, despite yellow being my favourite colour, looked pretty gross.

The second had scraggly brown hair, but with tinges of green. The kind of green I recognised in bogies (**A/N do Americans say boogers? You know, those things that come out of your nose?**) and cabbage. Urgh, cabbage!

The third, leading the trio, was all too familiar. Black, shoulder-length hair and a beaky nose.

"Miss Avia!" gasped Veronica.

"Wait, aren't you dead?" I asked.

Miss Avia smiled.

"Ah, little ignorant half-bloods. The answer is not for me to say, you see. You'll have to wait for our little friend to tell you that!"

"Friend?" Veronica put her brave face on, her sword pointed at Miss Avia's throat.

"Oh, little Veronica, if only you knew..." her smirking face became deadly serious. "Our spy has kept us informed, and let us in. When the time is right, we shall all come."

The three harpies spoke in unison: "And he shall rise!"

"He?" I drew my arrow back to my cheek. "Who's he?"

The mucus-haired one giggled with glee: "That doesn't matter. All that matters is that we've been sent to dispose of as many of the six as possible!"

They flew at us, snarling with menace and determination.

I let my arrow fly, but they dodged it. Veronica charged with her sword as I nocked a second arrow.

Bronze clashed with claws as the yellow-haired one slashed at Veronica. Her wings buffeted her but she stood strong. Meanwhile, I hatched a plan. I ran behind a tree to my right. I ducked down, just as mucus-hair swooped towards me. I let go of the arrow at the perfect moment.

It caught her wing and she flew at an angle, I ran to my left, and she fell for it. Flew straight into the tree and crumpled to the ground.

Veronica, meanwhile, had almost beaten her enemy. She slashed and hacked as the harpy snarled. Suddenly, the harpy stopped. It flew back into the woods.

I shot mucus-hair in the chest, feeling a pang of guilt as she screeched in pain. I then bolted over to Veronica.

"Where did they go?" I noted both Miss Avia and yellow-hair had flown off.

They appeared over our heads, soaring down. I didn't have time to notch and arrow, but Veronica dropped to the floor and reached into her Veronica Frye boot, which was a light caramel brown colour.

"What are you doing?" I shrieked, drawing back the bowstring and steadying my aim. Yellow-hair descended hungrily.

Veronica stood up so quickly with a glint of silver in her hand. She threw it and it caught yellow-hair in the chest.

"You keep throwing knives up your boots?" I gasped, as Miss Avia snarled to safety.

Veronica grinned: "Yep – a trick I learned from a daughter of Aphrodite. Now, come on!"

Miss Avia was eyeing us hungrily. I aimed the arrow tip at her.

"He's coming demigods," she grinned.

"Who?" I lowered my bow in frustration. A big mistake.

Miss Avia swooped down from the tree, her claws out and her eyes wild and ablaze.

Veronica grabbed her sword.

But she never had to use it.

The second Miss Avia touched the ground, a huge sword sliced from behind. She screeched in anger and fell to the ground.

Leon, his sword bathed in blood, stood behind her.

Lilly ran up behind him, her high heels affecting her running speed.

"Girls, how are you?" he shouted.

"Fine," Veronica informed him, "but it's not us you should be worrying about."

"What do you mean?" queried Lilly.

"There's a spy in camp. And they let the harpies in."

"And..."

"And what?"

Lilly's eyes narrowed. "You're not telling me something..."

"They're trying to resurrect a god."

Lilly's heavily made-up eyes widened. "You don't think..."

Veronica nodded: "It could be."

"Chronos."

**What do you think?**

**Leave any comments, criticisms or ideas in the reviews, thanks again for reading. I'll try and put the first picture up for Sunday.**

**-Silverhand9028**


	13. Chapter 13 Prophecy

**Wooh, more updates!**

**I've just drawn some practise pics, Summer is coming on the best, do you think I should draw her with her bow & arrows or guitar? Veronica is quite hard with the dress and plait, but Lilly, Leon and Toby are OK. Tom's pretty good too! I'm trying to get them all done ASAP.**

**Chapter dedicated to ChildOfWisdom and Sam, well done on your reports ;D**

**-Silverhand9028**

**Toby's POV**

Chiron's fist banged on the table.

"Counsellors," he barked, "I have called you here in the presence of our six new campers to discuss yesterday's goings on."

The meeting was held in the Big House. All of the counsellors from every cabin were there, including Eddie, Magenta, Jack, Aston and my own counsellor Sara. Lief and another representative of the Council of Cloven Elders was there too.

I sat beside Leon on my right, with Lilly beside him. Tom was on my left, followed by Summer and Veronica.

"Now," Chiron asked, as Davy from Hypnos promptly fell asleep on the table, "who saw the harpies?"

Lilly, Leon, Summer and Veronica raised their hands.

"I saw some things flying through the borders whilst on my pegasus," Grace from Hermes remembered.

"I heard some women screeching in the woods," recalled Jasper from Hecate.

"I saw Veronica and Summer racing pas the creek," spoke up Ella from Demeter, "it looked like you guys were chasing someone."

Veronica nodded as Lief raised an eyebrow: "Did you see who?"

Ella shook her head and looked at Veronica and Summer.

"No," Summer admitted, "but they were snooping round the forest just before the harpies attacked."

Chiron pondered. "Hmm..."

Veronica raised her hand: "The harpies said they had a spy in camp."

Silence.

"A spy?" gagged Eddie.

"How do we know?" asked Magenta, "I mean, they could be lying."

Veronica shrugged, "Perhaps so. Maybe they want us looking for this spy and it would tear the camp apart. Divide and conquer – one of the oldest war strategies."

The Ares head counsellor nodded in agreement, as did Eddie.

"War strategies," he mused, "along with science quotes and historical facts. You're like some kind of-"

"Yeah I know," Veronica interrupted, "I'm some kind of geek."

"Well actually," Eddie began, "I was going to say-"

Suddenly, a girl with short black hair and lined eyes ran in. She wore a black leather jacket and skinny jeans, like some kind of emo/hipster/rock chic mutation.

"Bella," Chiron asked, "what brings you here?"

The girl didn't answer. Her eyes turned green and she spoke with many voices, as the smell of snakes filled the air:

"_The six shall go forth to the throne of steel,_

_with a holy weapon, there to seal._

_The bow of moonlight, the arrows of love,_

_the helm of shadows, to kill from above._

_The brother of night, Hades' debtor,_

_And time shall destroy the natural deceptor._"

The girl sank to her knees.

Two people leapt up. "Take her to her room, will you?" called Chiron, as they hauled her up to the Big House's rooms.

"Who and what was that?" I gasped.

"That's Bella," informed Chiron. "She's a daughter of Hades, but she recently became our Oracle. That..."

Chiron shuddered.

"... was the Great Prophecy."

"Well," asked Magenta, "who are the six?"

Eddie looked at her: "I think that's fairly obvious Magenta," he said, "who have been referred to as 'the six' since they got here? Even the harpies did!"

"Wait, what?" Veronica asked.

"Don't you understand?" Eddie asked, "you."

"WHAAAT?" I stood up.

Eddie smiled, "All these weird things have been happening since you got here. You're all naturally brilliant demigods."

Chiron nodded: "I couldn't agree more. Tom, Veronica, Leon, Summer, Toby and Lilly: if you wish, you may go on a quest that we believe involves you."

"Alright," Leon was the first, "I fancy putting my strength to the test. Children of Ares are meant to die valiantly. If so, then-"

"OK!" my jaw dropped as Lilly – yes, Lilly – stood up. "I'll do it!"

Leon looked at her, and she smiled up into his eyes. "I'll join you," she leant in and whispered, but I heard: "I won't let you do this alone!"

Veronica, Tom and Summer stood up as a three.

"We'll go together, then."

Everybody looked expectantly at me.

I went to stand up... but I stayed rooted in my seat.

"I can't," I admitted. It felt low being less brave than a daughter of Aphrodite, but I couldn't. "I'm a terrible fighter, I'm restless and impatient. I'm not brave, strong or skilled. I'm good at partying, eating, drinking and talking. Nothing else."

Chiron looked directly at me, eyes shining: "Tobias, you are naturally evasive and nimble in battle. You have energy, and, if truth be told, are exceptionally brave and gutsy. You have optimism, self-belief, energy and guts. You are a hero."

I felt my sword in my belt. I saw the hopeful glances of the camp – even Jack, Aston and Magenta. My friends smiled down at me. I stood up.

"Let's do it!" I yelled.

**Unknown Person's POV**

Ha ha ha... so naïve.

They've wandered right into my trap. Our Lord will rise soon. They will find more than they bargained for on this quest. I almost killed one of them before. I will get that chance again... to kill all of them.

This is it.

I will not fail.

My Lord, primordial deity and powerful god, will rise.

Power and immortality will be mine.

I will kill these demigods the second they leave camp...

**The Unknown Person is still watching them? **

**What do you think of the prophecy? (yeah, I know it's not very good, but you try and it's not that easy!)**

**Haha :D**

**-Silverhand9028**


	14. Chapter 14 A Dead Summer Night's Dream

**Hello, beloved readers!**

**I've got a bit of writer's block :( but I will try to stick to daily updates. **

**Chapter dedicated to ChildOfWisdom again, I've just read her fanfic _My Love for You_, a total Percabeth epic! If you haven't read it... why the hell not? This is the link: .net/s/7463966/1/My_love_for_you**

**Oh, in answer to your questions: my drawing style is a bit like manga. I suppose it's a cross between manga and caricature, only not very good :)**

**Anyway, thanks all, **

**-Silverhand9028**

**Tom's POV**

A great pain welled up inside my chest. Tears fell from my eyes. I saw a figure lying crumpled on the floor, bleeding, screaming for mercy. She looked up into my eyes.

It was Summer.

"Summer!" I hollered, but she didn't answer. She sobbed, which clearly hurt her deeply, and clutched her white tee, now stained a vicious red with her own blood. She gripped my arm tight, her tears splashing onto my cheek.

"Tom..." she whispered, then laid back her head on my shoulder.

I held her tight, but her eyelids began to close.

"Summer!" she slipped back against my arm, a final tear rolling down her cheek.

"Summer no, don't let go!" I whispered urgently, as her grip on my arm weakened. Her eyes closed. Her warm, intoxicating breath was no longer felt on my neck.

"SUMMER!" I screamed, "SUMMER!"

"Don't you see, Tom?" a voice rasped from behind me. I turned to see the figure of a hooded man. "Defy me and this will happen. I am your fears and hatred. I am your doom. I am the Primordial Lord of T-"

"AAAH!" I opened my eyes and sat up.

"Hey Tom," my cabin mate Alex called from the bottom bunk of the bunk bed: "Having nightmares?"

"What? Oh, uh, yeah."

I breathed out slowly. I was in the Hermes Cabin. Three days ago Chiron had assigned us on a quest to save Camp Half-Blood from a traitor. Lilly was dead certain it was Magenta, Jack and Aston. I believed her too. They'd ruined a dinner by trying to kill us. I still had lots of bruises from floor impact, and many scars from arrow damage. It had taken hours to dislodge the arrowhead in my arm.

Groggily, I sat up and tumbled out of the top bunk, aware of Alex bobbing along behind me to his iPod. I got my bag I had packed last night – I had kept it under the bed because many of my cabin mates would steal everything they could from it. I checked it in case: my clothes, my sword, my favourite Detroit Pistons cap and my flask of ambrosia. Then, beside my canteen of nectar and wallet stacked with cash and drachmas, I found my shoes. Not just any shoes, my Adidas ones that had sprouted wings during training when someone said the word 'Maia'. I glanced nervously around the cabin to see if anyone was there. It was a lovely summer's day so the cabin was barely occupied, as I had woke late. Alex was lying on the bed listening to his iPod, Katia was absent-mindedly twizzling her hair, Benji was sleeping in his bed and Jon-Paul was just tying his laces, about to leave. The usually packed cabin was empty and everyone was daydreaming. Perfect.

I plucked the shoes from the bag and whispered: "_Maia__._"

It worked. The shoes sprouted little snow-shade feathered wings and fluttered up. I smiled, then stopped. I still didn't know how they'd floated. I didn't know who had made them fly, why they'd done it, why my shoes had been enchanted, and whether to take them or not. I swiped from the air as Katia looked in my direction, and the feathers disappeared. I held them over the bag. Should I take them or leave them...

I dropped them into the bag and zipped it up.

Big mistake...

We met up on Half-Blood Hill. The pine tree that guarded the borders stood strong, the Golden Fleece draped on it's branches and our dragon guardian Achilles sitting up, alert. The dragon's father Peleus had died many years ago, but it had left a child. Chiron insisted we call him Achilles, who in mythology was the son of the hero Peleus. Smart, huh?

I was the third one to arrive. Summer had woke just after dawn, prepared her stuff then headed down to the archery targets to practise her aim. Veronica had arrived second, dressed in a midnight black silky dress, knee-length, with her boots and armed with a new sword Eddie had forged for her.

"Did you ask him to forge me one?" she had asked Summer. She wore white jeans down to her knees, and an amber top over the top, decorated with a sequinned heart.

"No, he must have been being nice."

"Hmm... but why? He must have a reason."

"Maybe he likes you."

"Oh come on Summer, he barely knows me!"

"Veronica, you never know when someone likes you, you-" Summer stopped and glanced at me from beneath a strand of her sunshine-coloured bangs. "I... erm..."

Veronica nudged her and both girls started giggling, leaving me dumbfounded. They do that a lot.

Toby arrived next, his black curly hair fallen down in front of his face. He wore a leopard-print jacket, mimicking his father's symbol: a leopard-skin. He had a claret t-shirt and grey jeans. His favourite short sword was in his belt as always, and he was drinking a kool-aid. "Hey guys," he said, dropping his bag at his feet. "Where are Lilly and Leon?"

"I don't know," I shrugged.

"Did you hear?" Summer was grinning like a Cheshire Cat. "Leon asked Lilly to the Fireworks!"

"Summer!" Veronica elbowed her in the ribs, exasperated. "You're not meant to tell them that bit!"

Summer giggled: "No, they announced it – like, publicly!"

"Aww!"

I gasped, and Toby made a sound that sounded like grinning, gasping, laughing and gagging. "That's... cute?" he squeaked.

Summer laughed – I like Summer's laugh, like little wind-chimes tinkling in the midsummer breeze. I saw Leon running up the hill, Lilly behind him. Leon wore a leather jacket, crimson t-shirt and cargo trousers (**A/N Pants, whatever**) and his black hair had been spiked up. Lilly was dressed more delicately, in skinny jeans, a short-cut belly top and denim jacket over the top.

"How many bags have you got?" inquired Veronica, as Lilly struggled up with five huge handbags.

"Just a few," Lilly smiled, "a girl can never be too prepared!"

Veronica laughed as Chiron cantered up the hill.

"Campers!" he greeted us.

I looked up at his warm smile. "I must wish you the best on this quest. I've been thinking about the prophecy: firstly, the throne of steel. I'm not sure what this could entail but it could be the Throne of Hephaestus on Mount Olympus – that's made of steel, bronze and iron. But... apart from that, I'm not sure. The bow of moonlight could involve Artemis, the archer goddess of the moon. The arrows of love – I was thinking Eros. He's the God of Love, he has arrows that enchant people's loving ways."

"Awesome, what about the 'helm of shadows'?" asked Veronica.

"Hades' weapon is a helm of darkness and invisibility."

"Ew, trip to the Underground. Great." Lilly shuddered.

Chiron nodded: "That may be so. It also mentioned Hades' debtor."

"Who?"

Chiron pondered: "I cannot be sure. But you must discover yourselves – though I must warn you, the Oracle's messages usually have double meanings."

As we said our goodbyes, a shadow of doubt slithered into my mind. I remembered my dream – the hooded man who radiated darkness, and what he was going to say to me. Before I had woken up, he was about to tell me something – he said he was the 'primordial Lord of T-' then I had awakened. I knew 'Primordial' meant he was an old God who had been there at the beginning, and usually an embodiment of something. But what? What did the T stand for? Only one word haunted my mind.

_Time._

That wasn't the only part of the dream that would haunt me. I looked at Summer: she was chatting to Chiron about what kind of monsters we could face. Even in a conversation as dismal as that, she had a shining smile on her face. I... I liked her. She wasn't as pretty as Lilly. She wasn't as smart as Veronica. She wasn't as skilled as Magenta. I didn't know what I felt about her in terms of love, but...

…to me, she was perfect. I couldn't bare the thought of her dying. She was funny and pretty and unique. I loved her cute maze of freckles and shimmering smile. Even her weird little laugh made me feel epic.

She turned to me, and smiled up at me.

I felt determination and passion inside me. She may not think of me as a lover, but I would never let anything happen to her.

That was my aim, at least.

And this is the story of how I failed.

**Ah, I love leaving cliffhangers!**

**Are you scared for Summer? Don't worry, I'll put her picture up tomorrow hopefully? I've done her and Tom – who would you like up first, leave it in the review.**

**Thanks for reading guys,**

**-Silverhand9028**


	15. Chapter 15 A Snaky Customer

**One word: AAAAAAAAHHHH!**

**Firstly, a belated happy birthday to AproditeMatch Maker, you're awesome!**

**Secondly, sorry I didn't update yesterday but I was very busy!**

**Thirdly, in this Chapter I had to use a lot of American phrases, so sorry as the vocabulary will be terrible. Do Americans use words like 'sucker' and 'bus'?**

**Now, to answer your questions:**

**'I married Nico Di'Angelo': Thank you so much, that makes me feel so amazing!**

**'ChildOfWisdom' and 'AphroditeMatch Maker': What did Eddie say? Well, you'll have to find out...**

**'anon': No, I'm currently single *winks*, although literally completely undateable... :(**

**'AnnabethChaseMoA': I'm a Son of Apollo. Music and Sunshine for the win! :D**

**And all of you, your fantastic reviews make my day I feel so popular!**

**You guys are amazing, this Chapter is dedicated to every single one of you who reads, reviews and makes me feel AWESOME!**

**-Silverhand9028**

**Unknown Person's POV**

They're gone.

Out of Camp. Out of safe zone. My outer forces can reach them – from my hiding place in the woods I can see them. I will need to stop them as soon as possible, before they realise who they are.

I have set a trap. An aide of mine is waiting for them. They will come to her, or else I will have to force them...

**Veronica's POV**

"Where to first, then?" asked Toby, swigging his Kool-Aid.

"Hmmm... what about New York?"

"Why?"

"Mount Olympus. Perhaps we need Hephaestus' throne, and Artemis' bow. Eros might be on Olympus too."

"Okay – to New York!" yelled Toby.

We took a cab into New York. The driver dropped us off near Central Park.

"Hey, Artemis might be in Central Park," suggested Summer.

"I don't think so, Gods don't usually wander around public places."

"Hmm... well, it sounds like we should head that way." Leon murmured

"Why-" began Veronica, before stopping: "Yeah, you're right."

"Wait guys," I stopped them. "Why are we going to Central Park? Surely-"

Suddenly, a little voice found it's way into my head. _Central Park_, it called, _got to Central Park._ I stopped.

"Yeah," I grinned carelessly as I realised we should definitely be heading for Central Park. "Let's go!" I put my sword in my bag, along with my caduceus shield, and zipped it up, (**A/N do Americans say zippered? Aaahhh, this language thing is so confusing!**) for something told me I wouldn't be needing them. Then, smiling and laughing, we descended down a lane of pretty slender trees.

**Unknown Person's POV (Yes I know he's always popping up, but it's important)**

I followed them out of camp, then cast the spell.

It worked like a treat.

They just started grinning, and strolled straight into the park. Straight into our trap.

Like taking candy from a baby.

Ha ha ha...

**Tom's POV**

A dog walker waved cheerfully at us as we strolled along. We had hot dogs as we giggled along. It was carefree and fun – I'd forgotten why we were there but it was great fun. Summer giggled at one of Toby's corny jokes, and she had a smear of ketchup on her chin and her blue eyes sparkled happily.

A woman sat a fountain as we approached. She had long black hair, that shimmered in the breeze. She wore a silky pink dress with a bizarre scaly material wrapped around her like a shawl. Her face was slender and extremely beautiful, and she smiled as she looked around. Her green eyes fixed on a little boy, and she reached out and handed him a wrapped little piece of candy.

She looked up at us.

"Hello children," she smiled brightly. She was very pretty, I found myself drawn towards her. "Would you like some candy?"

"Yeah, sure," Toby stepped forward and was handed a huge amount of cotton candy. "Awesome!" he grinned, as he started chomping and chewing the huge pink fluff he was given.

"Oh dear, I seem to have run out. Tell you what, I have some back on my bus."

"Bus?"

"Oh yes, I have the equivalent of a Greyhound, stacked with chocolate, candy and more. I call it the 'Sucker Bus'."

"Cool," Summer skipped forward as Veronica and I followed.

"Yes, I'll just get some more. Follow me, it's this way!"

Lilly and Leon linked arms as Toby joined us. We descended down the wooded path, past the tinkling fountain.

"Why the Sucker Bus?" asked Veronica.

The lady smiled wryly: "It was named after me."

"What's your name then?" questioned Toby, chomping his cotton candy.

"Well, my name is Lilia. But it's not named after my name. You'll understand once we arrive."

The gorgeous woman turned and took us down a little woody area. A lake sparkled over to our right. (**They have lakes in Central Park, right?**) as we approached the main road.

Lilia wrapped her scaly snakeskin shrug around her. "Almost there, pretties." she grinned.

I laughed carelessly as we skipped along. It was a beautiful day. Lilia's smile made me feel relaxed. All I knew was that I was in Central Park, with a nice lady and five of my best friends. Why were we in Central Park again... no, it didn't matter, just concentrate on the weather and the atmosphere.

Lilia turned again and we were facing a small lake. The water reflected the blue smiles of the cloudless skies, glittering with the sun's gentle kisses. It was serene and beautiful. Lilia grinned, as I noticed her glimmering black eyes, rimmed with their snaky irises, were scanning us. Her gaze washed over me until it settled on Toby.

"Toby darling," I didn't notice at the time how she knew his name, but Toby smiled up at her as she tossed back her wavy bangs. "What lovely children you all are. Oh, and such strong handsome boys!" she licked her lips.

"Lilia, where is the Sucker Bus? The one named after you?"  
Lilia smiled. "Oh sorry, did I say Sucker Bus was named after me? It's not – the word succubus is based on me."

"Is that a kind of candy?" asked Lilly.

Veronica's brown eyes widened in shock. "A succubus is a female demon that preys on men and..."

Lilia laughed: "Men, children, what does it matter? To me, they're all food! Come to me, children!"

She laughed wickedly and grabbed Toby by the arm, and pulled him into the lake.

In an instant, I was jolted back to reality. I wasn't strolling round the park with my friends. We were demigods. We were searching for the bow of moonlight. Toby had been pulled under water by a lady...

...no, not a lady. I highly doubted Lilia was human.

Veronica reached into the lake and hauled out Toby. Summer attached herself to her waist, and I pulled on Summer. We heaved and pulled but Lilia was pulling against us. She emerged out of the water, baring serpentine fangs. Her dress had melted away and from the waist down she was a snake! She screamed with laughter.

"Come to me children!" she roared.

My mind went blank. I reached for my sword in my belt and went to tap the caduceus watch on my wrist, but I remembered I had taken them off.

I threw my bag off my back and started unzipping it to get to my stuff. Too late, I heard a scream. I looked up to see Summer, in the arms of Lilia. Lilia's arms were beginning to get scaly and snaky. Her fanged grin increased.

"Ah, I haven't had a good child in centuries!" she shrieked with delight. "I am the devourer of children! I am the nightmares of my prey! I am Lamia!" she pulled Summer by the hair towards her open mouth as she began to sink beneath the turquoise water.

"Summer!" I screamed.

"Summer!" gasped Veronica.

"Summer!" Toby whispered.

"Stop!" hollered a voice.

We turned to see the owner of the voice. Summer sobbed. Lamia faltered. Someone had swept in to stop the fighting.

**DUN DUN DUUUUN!**

**Who came in at the end? Friend or foe? **

**This Chapter is the result of me banging my head on the table after many hours of writer's block and pointless procrastination. Sorry if it's a bit crappy, but I still have writer's block. **

**Apologies for not uploading yesterday, please don't hate me :(**

**Oh, and PS: I OFFICIALLY HAVE 100 REVIEWS! I LOVE YOU GUYS! 3**

**My picture of Tom is up on my profile, it's not that good but what the hell, check it out!**

**-Silverhand9028**


	16. Chapter 16 The Hunted

**Bad news, very bad news!  
I have some major GCSE exams in Maths (which I suck at) and I need to revise, so I'm sorry but I can't update daily. I've been getting pleas for more updates but I just can't do them every day, so really sorry :(**

**I will try to do them every day, but I can't promise anything.**

**On a more positive note, thank you for the reviews, you guys always make me feel better, when I come home to see, like 30 emails saying 'You have a review'. So thanks!**

**Chapter dedicated to Sam, I hope the ninjas aren't stalking you again... heh heh heh :)**

**-Silverhand9028**

**Leon's POV**

I turned my head away from Lamia. This was quite hard to do, as Lamia was mesmerisingly beautiful yet happened to be sinking into a lake, holding one of my friends in her arms. But I managed to peel myself away from the odd and slightly transfixing scene to see who was there.

There were a group of between twenty to forty girls. They wore silvery parkas and their hair was beaded and braided. The girl in the lead looked around thirteen. She had light brown hair but her eyes were a deep chocolatey brown colour. Her skin was tanned and she had a wry smile on her face. She wore grey skinny jeans with a sword in her belt and a bow drawn with a silver arrow.

"Lamia," she smiled, "I haven't hunted you for decades. A quick reformer eh?"

Lamia stopped sinking.

"Quicker than you think. I've been the nightmares of children since Ancient Times. I was quite feared in the Middle Ages you know... they named a demon after me, the succubus..."  
"Before Lady Artemis put an arrow through your head."

"Yes, but where is Artemis now, eh?"

"I'm gonna cut in now," Toby stepped up, "but what the hell is going on?"

The girl, quick as a silver bolt of lightning, shot an arrow at Lamia. It hit her in her beautiful chest, so voluptuous and... ahem!  
Anyway, she screamed and rasped, then literally exploded. Summer fell into the lake, but all that was left of Lamia was a snakeskin shawl, floating on the clear green pool.

"Wha-?" Summer watched the girl put her bow onto her back, "What was... who are-"

"My name is Samantha," the girl flipped back her bangs to reveal a little jewelled diadem, "and I am Lieutenant of Artemis. We are the Hunters."

The Hunters were thirty-eight girls, the eldest aged fifteen and the youngest barely eleven.

"Our leader is Artemis, Goddess of the Hunt." Samantha had said, as she led us away from New York.

"Artemis? No way!" gushed Toby.

Samantha nodded. "However, she's not here with us, she had to leave us on important duties."

"Oh," Veronica murmured, as we turned a corner, taking us out of the city.

"Why, what's the problem?" asked Samantha.

"We needed Artemis. We have to search for the 'bow of moonlight'."

Samantha nodded. "Artemis does have a silver bow, and her arrows are crafted out of moonlight."

"Well can we have it?"  
Samantha shrugged. "I went to Chiron earlier and he told me you would need the bow of Artemis."

"And..."

"Well, there's a bit of a problem regarding Artemis."

"What kind of pro-"

Samantha suddenly stopped. She turned to the Hunters.

"Hunters, set up camp!" she yelled. The hunters moved to a a small wooded area outside the city and put a crescent of silver silk tents.

The Hunters had set up camp. But were we invited?

Samantha was sat cross-legged inside a tent, beside a brazier of glowing flame. As dusk fell, we were beckoned inside.

She regarded me, Tom and Toby warily as we sat down. "Careful," she warned, "I rarely allow males into the tent. Now, I need your opinions."  
We sat down across from the blazing brazier.

Samantha paused for a moment and looked across at us with quick, wise eyes.

"Lady Artemis left us a few nights ago. But just before she went, she left me a message. She told me not to tell any of the other Hunters – however, you need to know."

"Us?" I asked, "What happened to not trusting us?"

Samantha shrugged. "This is important. It regards your quest for the bow of moonlight..." she paused, and leant forward, like someone might be listening. "Artemis is gone."

"Gone?" Veronica raised a skeptical eyebrow. "What do you mean?"

"She came to me one night and said: 'Sam I'-"

"Sam," Toby mused, "Can I call you Sam?"  
"No." she glared. "Anyway, Artemis said 'Sam, I need to go. A god is rising. He is sapping my energy.'"  
"She said what?" gasped Summer.

Samantha nodded. "She didn't specify the god, or why he was doing this. But she said 'He is taking me. I can feel him, pulling me in to him. I must be pulled in.'"

Samantha stopped as her sharp eyes examined our shocked and concerned faces.

"What did you say?" asked Tom.

"I asked her why. She told me that the god would drain all her power. She would be easily beaten if he sapped her strength. However, if she went to where he was pulling her in, he would stop draining her. So she took her bow-"  
"She took the bow?" yelled Toby.

Samantha glared at him – she didn't appreciate his boisterous nature, I could tell.

"Yes, she took the bow of moonlight. She said 'Tell the other girls I am on a hunting mission. I must find this god, and, if possible, fight him'. She left in the middle of the night. When we awoke there was just a crevice in the ground where she had been."  
We sat in silence for a moment.

Tom spoke up. "Sam-"

"Only my Hunters and my goddess call me Sam."

"Sorry, Samantha. But I had a dream last night." Tom glanced nervously at Summer, who was sat beside him. "A god, dressed in dark robes, appeared from the ground from a crevice. He said he had chosen a spy within the camp, and they would help him to rise. The god said he was called..."  
"Yes?"

"Well, I didn't catch his name. But he said he was a primordial god – you know, the ones who embody something, who were there at the beginning of time. I woke up before he said the end of his sentence. However, I still caught: 'I am the primordial Lord of T-', then I woke up."

"T? T for what?" pondered Samantha.

Lilly's eyes widened. "T for Time! That evil little traitor, I'm going to..."

"Wait, you think you know who the spy is?" Samantha gripped her sword in her belt.

"I don't know for sure," Lilly said, "but it might be Magenta Mirage, who's trying to raise Chronos, Primordial God of Time."  
"Daughter of Morpheus?" gasped Samantha. We nodded. "Why didn't you say so? When we went to Camp yesterday, we spoke to Chiron. Magenta came to us, saying she wanted forgiveness for injuring her fellow demigods."

"The liar!" gasped Lilly.

Samantha squirmed uneasily.

"Samantha," Veronica wondered, "is there something you're not telling us?"

"Well, Magenta is now..."  
"Now what?"

"Magenta Mirage... is now the newest member of the Hunters of Artemis."

**Anyone else shocked?**

**Sorry I can't do regular updates but I have two Maths exams at the end of this month and a Drama GCSE in 9 days time :(**

**Thanks for reviewing though,**

**-Silverhand9028**


	17. Chapter 17 Time Out

**Hi all!**

**Thanks for the reviews and stuff :D**

**Question answers:**

**AphroditeMatch Maker: Sam sounds familiar? Well, I based her on ChildOfWisdom's character Sam, who based her on her friend Sam. A bit like how I based Veronica on ChildOfWisdom's character Veronica, who based it on herself!**

**Hope that's all cleared up, new picture up soon, who will I be drawing?**

**-Silverhand9028**

**Veronica's POV (the next morning)**

I couldn't believe my eyes.

We'd barely been away for a day but she'd changed so much.

Her light blonde hair was still tipped with the jet-black highlights. Her intense, ever-changing kaleidoscope eyes still radiated mystery and illusion. Her made-up lips still curled up at the edges with a wry smirk when she saw us. Her knife still hung in her belt, but a silver bow and quiver of arrows were strapped to her bag. Her ripped Camp shirt had been replaced by a black u-neck tee with a silver parka on top. Her tattered jeans were gone: in their place, grey skinny ones with sparkles of glitter.

Magenta Mirage put a hand on her hip and walked towards us.

"Hello guys," she sprawled, strolling around the six of us in a circle, "what are you doing here, eh?"

"Magenta." Lilly snarled, in a very un-Child-of-Aphrodite-like way.

"Hello Lilly, how's things?"

"Fine," Lilly was going bright red: Leon put a strong hand on her shoulder to both comfort and restrain her. "I've been good ever since a certain daughter of Morpheus threw a knife into my leg!" she spat, "How about you?"

"Good, good," Magenta's easygoing smile disappeared from her face, "just coping after my ambition to bring back a god were flushed down a certain daughter of Aphrodite!"

"An evil, murderous, ancient, primal god!"  
"He's neither of those things! Well, apart from ancient, but... wait, what evidence do you have for Chronos being _evil?_"

"Did you just seriously ask that question? The one who appeared in a dream of mine involving Leon dying? Then he appeared in Tom's dream and-"

She turned to Tom.

"Tom, was there anybody dying in you dream?"

"Erm... no! No!" He said quickly, glancing at Summer, who wasn't really listening. She was giggling distractedly at a butterfly which had landed on her nose.

Lilly and Magenta launched a full-scale argument, as Leon and Toby backed up Lilly and another Hunter came to check on why there was a huge volleyball game of abuse going on.

I wasn't listening: I turned to see Tom and Summer. Summer was dressed in blue skinny jeans, gold flip-flops and bangles and a long, sky blue button-down shirt opened, revealing a lemon tee. The sun was in the zenith of it's journey through the sky, and her tanned skin and bright blonde hair glowed like gold in the sun. She looked like an angel.

My mahogany-coloured eyes opened wide and my lip curled up at the edge. This face meant I had worked something out – for I had realised Tom was in love with Summer! I had teased them about how they were cute together for years, but I only really meant as friends. Now, I wondered if someone had been in Tom's dream. Tom always smiled to see her: he had often absent-mindedly touched her delicate shoulders or stroked her long blonde hair. He lit up whenever she did her wind-chime giggle...

Ooooh, Tom and Summer!

My two best friends, that was so cute!

But wait... where did that leave me?

"You manipulative, sly, ruthless liar!"

"You stupid, judgmental, offensive idiot!"

Lilly and Magenta where still at it. Lilly was getting less and less like a daughter of Aphrodite every day. They had been told to split it up by Samantha earlier, but a chance meeting as the Hunters put away their tents had sparked another feud. Summer was chatting to some other Hunters, a few of whom were here also daughters of Apollo. Toby was trying to chat up Sam – not working at all – whilst Tom was sitting beside me as we ate sandwiches from freshly-hunted rabbits. Lilly had refused the meat as she couldn't imagine eating a cute little bunny, and as she and Leon went looking for someone to chat quietly, (or so she said: I knew she meant make out with him), they bumped into Magenta. World War Three promptly ensued.

"You could have killed me!" Lilly hollered, displaying a gash on her arm.

"You may have already killed us all!" Magenta snarled, glaring at Lilly from black-rimmed eyes.

"What?" Leon was gripping Lilly's shoulders with both hands.

Magenta glowered at the two lovers, like their romance made her want to vomit. "The chance to raise Chronos was on of the final opportunities!"

"Opportunities to do what?"

Magenta snarled, "Chronos is needed. You don't understand. I can't tell you, I'm afraid. You'll have to work that one out yourself. But without the God of Time, you can't fight your enemy!"  
"Chronos is our enemy: he sent those horrible dreams!"  
"You don't understand!"

Leon stepped in: "Magenta, you picked the wrong side. Stop trying to raise your evil, ancient old god."  
Magenta glared round at all of us. "I'm immortal now. So say bye to Samantha and get out of my sight!"

Magenta turned on her heel and marched out.

"Someone's got beef..." muttered Leon. (**A/N in case Americans don't use that phrase, it's a British slang term for holding a grudge with someone**)

Samantha was waiting for us when we were ready.

"I'm sorry you didn't find the bow of moonlight. But the crevice Artemis vanished from is over there." Samantha pointed towards the north-west, in a little forest. "I will accompany you that far. Beware though: Gods know what is in there."  
"Do they?" joked Summer, brushing back a golden strand.

Samantha shrugged, then laughed as she realised it was a joke.

"We left our bags!" exclaimed Lilly all of a sudden, tossing back a scarlet bang.

"I'll get them," I volunteered.

"They're down by the brook," Leon added.

"I know," I told her. "mine's there too. So is Summer's, that's where we pitched our girls tent."

I jogged past a chestnut-haired daughter of Apollo who had made friends with Summer. She waved as I approached the brook.

Lilly's bags were beside a bored-looking hunter sharpening a knife. There were loads: Gucci, River Island, Banana Republic, Abercrombie and many more. I hauled them up and found my bag. It was a smart-but-stylish brown leather satchel that I slung over my shoulder. Summer's bag was beside it. An overnight bag, bright yellow with a pastel blue sleeping bag sticking lopsidedly out. I approached but the weight of Lilly's many bags meant I knocked the bag with my toe accidentally. The sleeping bag spilled out, as did a few other items. A pair of faded yellow Converse, a spare quiver of arrows and her favourite jacket. Inside the pocket I saw something.

"I bet it's a picture of Tom!" I thought to myself, remembering the cute couple. But what I found was a huge shock. I remembered how Summer had spent a long time chatting to her half-sister hunter. But inside the pocket, sleek and silver, was a small rectangle of folded card.

I gasped.

It was a leaflet to join the Hunters of Artemis.

**Another cliffhanger! How could I resist?**

**A few of you know the next cliffhanger as many of you suggested it, and I am willing to take your suggestions!**

**I have a big GCSE Drama exam a week from now, it's really hard and I am finding time to update hard within the mass of homework, revision and practising. Sorry!**

**But I will try for you, amazing readers! :D**

**-Silverhand9028**


	18. Chapter 18 The Quest Restarts

**Hi all!**

**Thanks for the reviews!**

**-Silverhand9028 (Wow, that was brief!)**

**Lilly's POV**

"Are you a demigod?" Toby asked, casually making conversation as we clambered through the bracken.

We had spent just under twenty-five minutes traversing a dense forest for the spot Artemis disappeared from. Samantha lead, bow in her hand. Toby was beside her, desperately trying to chat up the attractive young woman. Leon was there too, bravely strolling forward. Ah, my brave Leon! Lilleon is the best relationship ever! Tom was behind them, chatting to Summer. Veronica and I trooped behind them.

Samantha glared at Toby, who zipped up his chocolate brown leather jacket.

"I am."

"Who's your parent?"

"I'm..."

"Yeah?"

"None of your business!"

"Well, give me a clue!" I can see when relationships don't work, and Samantha would rather jump off a cliff than date Toby. Tommer is a much better relationship! Yes, I know about Tommer. Veronica's probably figured it out too, but I knew since I was ten that they would be cute together.

"Is it Apollo? No, not cheerful enough. Athena? Ares?"

"It's not Ares..."

"Your dad?"  
"No, his name!"  
"What?"

Samantha's back straightened. Her fingers tapped the sword on her belt in honour.

"My name is Samantha Bloodhide. Daughter of Mars."

"Chiron never told us..."  
Greek demigods were hard enough to take in. But Roman ones too? So the Gods had, what, split personalities?

"Why are you in the Hunters then?" Veronica inquired, as we stopped for a break in the clearing.

"Huh?"

"Is there, like, a Roman version? Hunters of Diana, perhaps?"

"No. I figured the Greeks needed my leadership. There's nothing against it. I need to stop the Hunters from getting entirely Greek."  
"Is Greek such a bad thing?"

"Yes, I don't think you have much strength, honour or valour."

"Well that's a lie!" Leon swung his sword and felled a lowly beech tree.

Samantha shrugged. "I like to intermingle. See what you Greeks are up to."

"Hmm..."

The conversation reached an all time low as we began to accept Samantha's descendants.

"Hey, Lilly."

Veronica, dressed in a royal blue knee-length dress with a charcoal trim, approached me.

"Hi Vea!"  
"Can I have a word?" she leant in low as Toby dished out some food.

"Sure," I smiled up at her.

She signalled to behind a sturdy oak tree.

"Oh, in private. Yeah, sure!"

I followed her and she took a small leaflet out of her pocket.

Printed in curly silver font, the words 'JOIN THE HUNTERS OF ARTEMIS' were displayed across the top. I flicked through to see pictures of smiling teen girls, and articles like: 'Artemis' Top Ten Hunting Tips' and 'How to Breed the best Wolf Companion ever'.

"You're thinking of joining the Hunters?" I gasped.

Veronica shook her head.

"I found t

his in Summer's bag."

"Summer?" I scoffed. I glanced through the trees to see Summer. She was strumming a guitar as her crystal voice pealed through the woods. "But... she and Tom... I don't know if you know but..."  
"Yeah, I know," Veronica grinned, "I doubt they do themselves, but..."

I saw Summer rest the guitar on a log as she skipped over to Samantha.

"Vea, she's talking to-"

Veronica gasped: she had already seen them.

"What can we do?" I started to panic.

"I don't know," she shrugged, "It's her choice, but they love each other, I can tell!"

Samantha took out another silvery flyer.

"Quick!" we turned and sped to the clearing.

**Unknown Person's POV**

I followed them.

They can't see me in these woods. They're my domain.

In that moment, Summer was distracted. Veronica and Lilly were terrified. Toby, Tom and Leon were deep in conversation.

I cracked my knuckles.

It was coming... the time to strike! Ha ha ha!

**Who is it? They're there again!**

**Sam herself (whom Samantha is based on) begged me to let her be a Roman demigod, so Sam, here you go!**

**The plot thickens, mwah ha ha!**

**-Silverhand9028**


	19. Chapter 19 An Eye for an Eye

**Hi guys!**

**Bad, bad bad news: after a big drama exam and TWO upcoming maths ones, all my time has been spent revising and not writing, I'm so sorry! (Insert violins playing here)**

**It is with regret that I have to inform you from now on there will be only weekly updates...**

**...please don't hate me...**

**:(**

**But on the plus side, more fight scenes!**

**Yay!**

**-Silverhand9028**

**Leon's POV**

Lilly and Veronica walked behind the tree for a conversation.

_Twang_: I turned to see Toby plucking the strings of Summer's guitar.

"Don't," warned Tom, "Summer hates people touching her guitar!"

"Oooh, Mr Protective!" Toby giggled, "are you and Summer an item, eh?"

Tom glared at him. "Toby: you're funny, but if you overstep the line, I swear..."

"But you're not denying it!"

"We're not an item!"  
"But do you want to be one?"

Lilly and Veronica suddenly tore out of the trees.

"What is it?" I asked, reaching for my sword which was currently resting against a log.

A silence echoed through the woods. I overhead a snippet of Summer and Samantha's conversation: "We'd be honoured, really Summer. You're a fine archer."

"It sounds exciting, sure, but..."  
"Amy, your half-sister, told you, didn't she? It's the best decision I ever made, to join the Hunt."

"It's not that it won't be amazing, just..."

"She wants to join the Hunters?" gasped Tom.

Only a little too loud.

Samantha turned round, her brown hair swishing round her pointed slender face.

Summer shuffled around to face us, her freckled face tickled with a pink blush. Her blue eyes swivelled round us in turn.

"Yes, she does," Samantha informed us. "She'd like to join the Hunt and aid Artemis and myself-"

"Summer... I..." Veronica walked forward. The crunch of her boots on the dried leaves and twigs beneath was the only sound.

Summer turned to Samantha. "Look, about your offer.."

"Yes?" Sam smiled happily, like Summer was a new friend she had been waiting an age to meet.

"I... look, it sounds awesome, but Veronica... Lilly..."  
"You don't want to leave them? Well, Veronica would make an excellent young huntress. And Lilly... if she wants to, I'm sure we could-"  
"No. I'm sorry Samantha. But Leon, Toby..." her cloudless eyes rested on us. "Tom... I can't."  
"I see..." Samantha looked genuinely disappointed. Lilly smiled sympathetically.

"Well, you can still take us to Artemis' crack, right?" she asked.

"Yeah sure. It's this way."

Summer began to pack away her guitar, glaring at Toby who had just dropped her electric tuner in the mud.

Suddenly, a blood-curdling laugh echoed through the forest, and heavy stomping footsteps followed soon after...

Cyclopes.

We saw them before they saw us, although that wasn't hard. Their milky eyes were bloodshot and looked pretty damn useless. We heard about four of them, clambering through the trees and yelling out threats to us.

"Cursed demigods!" one hollered, as it burst into the clearing.

It had a white t-shirt and ripped jeans, with boots that must have been a size 50! (**A/N in English sizes, that is!**). He held a huge club in one hand.

"Run!" screamed Veronica. I noticed the beast's one eye looked really bad, so hopefully it wouldn't see us.

"Hide!" I told them.

Toby and I turned and leapt behind an oak tree, Summer dropped behind the log and nocked an arrow to her bow. Veronica, Samantha and Lilly sprinted to another tree. Tom, who was in the middle of the clearing and not by a tree, dropped to the floor, then put his hood up and hoped that his black sweats and brown hoody would serve as camouflage. Another cyclops lumbered in, wearing a black gym top and shorts. It wielded a similar club, and a heavy-looking shield.

"Where are those demigods?" it growled. It's voice was deeper, more hate-filled and murderous.

Two more kicked aside a sapling tree, entering the clearing. I saw Lilly swallow beside me as she silently unsheathed her knife.

"The hunter girl said they were here..." one rasped, smashing it's gloved fists together.

I saw Samantha's eyes widen. Lilly glared and muttered under her breath. I couldn't hear her, but I guessed what she said.

_Magenta._

"Did demi-go's leave dis?" the biggest, ugliest, and clearly stupidest one muttered.

He approached Summer's guitar. I saw Summer draw her breath. That guitar was her prized possession.

The one who had spoken first started sniffing.

"I smell demigods... here..." he approached the hiding place of the three girls.

Lilly looked sick. I was only a few metres away. If I could just...

"AAAAGHH!" the one who was near the girls screeched in pain. I saw Veronica standing behind him, drawing a cut along his leg.

"Demigo'! Me kill demigo's! AAAGGHHH!" the big ugly roared, turning towards his injured friend, then promptly ran into a tree.

Veronica was joined by Lilly who kept the huge cyclops at bay with her knife, then squealed as the beast retaliated.

I felt my Ares instincts kick in. War tactics... battle ideas...

I turned to Toby, who had his sword ready in his hand.

"Go!" I yelled.

As we thundered out of the trees, I spied Summer shoot an arrow at the cyclops who had come dangerously close to touching her guitar. Samantha had a killer look in her eyes as she targeted one who hung at the back.

Her arrow missed by an inch, which I found odd. I would've thought she was an amazing archer. But I had more important things to worry about. For example, the large ugly one-eyed stupid one.

"Me kill you demigo'! Me eat your bones! Oooh... two! Me eat both of your bones! Me love eating demigo's! Especially when me boil your blood and roast the kidne-"

I would love to hear the rest of 'How to Cook your own Demigod' but me and Toby put a stop to it. I threw my sword: not easy when it's a huge double-handed thing but it caught the cyclops in the knee.

"Get a branch!" I roared, above the sounds of Veronica's blade clashing with the first cyclops.

Toby didn't object. He yanked a branch of a tree and handed it to me. I ran at the toppled-over giant, as he roared in pain, trying to remove the sword in his leg.

I rammed the branch as hard as I damn well could, leaves and all, into the cyclops' eye. Toby's pretty squeamish about blood and eyes, so the two together was quite a sight, even for me.

But he still leapt at the beast and thrust his sword into the beast's back. It exploded into millions of dusty particles. Gross.

I saw the girls doing a good job. Summer drew back her bowstring and closed her eye to get her aim right. The arrow struck the cyclops' shield, as it ducked back. Samantha aided her as they launched a second volley of arrows. Samantha's struck the shield, one bouncing off the sword of the beast which was drawn up in a defensive stance I recognised vaguely: perhaps just my war instincts. Summer's arrow caught the little finger, as the giant was hopping around trying to avoid being hit.

I saw Lilly throwing her knife so it caught the sunlight. The big, stupid cyclops saw the silver sparkle as rays reflected off, causing a mosaic of reflected light on the forest floor.

The cyclops looked at the light patterns intently, the distractions working. As the knife fell into the shade and hit a tree trunk, the patterns vanished. The stupid one looked up dismayed. Too late. He just saw Veronica strike, then exploded into dust.

"Good distraction!" grinned Veronica. She ran to me and Toby. We were battling the quiet one who Samantha had first shot, although she had then switched to the one who had almost touched the guitar.

The beast had a spear, and he stabbed with it at me. I felt my war instincts flood through me as I ducked and rolled to the side. The giant remained unfazed, as he brought the weapon around in an arc. Lilly dropped to the floor and just dodged the point. The cyclops brought his weapon up again, preparing to spear Toby, who was readying a defensive pose.

Suddenly, another cyclops stumbled towards us backwards. I saw he was screaming, and I noticed an arrow in his eye.

Samantha and Summer advanced, their bows drawn, We made a circle around the two cyclopes.

Veronica's eyes widened. She glanced across at me, and mouthed: "Get an opening for me!"  
I nodded an affirmative. "Toby, Lilly," I instructed, "distraction!"  
Lilly's knife was still in a tree trunk, but she picked up a knife from the stupid one. It was like a sword for her, as she and Toby slid in. They struck at it's legs, as the beast roared in horror.

I grinned: an opening!  
I yelled: "Veronica! GO!"  
As Summer and Samantha pushed their opponent back with arrows.

Toby and Lilly kept theirs at bay too.

Veronica leapt onto the beast's arched leg, then sliced.

"AAAAAAAAARGHH!"

A sliced-up bloody eye fell to the ground. Veronica jumped down. I swept in and grabbed Lilly, as Veronica hauled Toby away. Summer skirted round the edge of the cyclops with an arrow in it's eye.

As she shot it, the cyclops turned. Summer and Samantha cleared. Two blinded cyclopes were facing each other, thinking that demigods were where the other cyclops was.

Lilly, who hadn't really got the plan until now and just followed the orders, grinned as she realised our aim.

The two cyclopes smashed their weapons down on each other with vigour.

Victory!  
I grinned as two more explosions of dust filled the clearing.

But suddenly, Summer let out a a gasp of horror.

In the clash of battle, we had all not noticed one vital thing...

"Where's Tom?" she gasped.

**Weekly updates: sorry!**

**I will try but again I can't promise.**


	20. Chapter 20 Ambush

**Hello people!**

**Thanks for reviewing, lots of interesting theories about where Tom's gone... well you're in luck because the next chapter is in his POV...**

**-Silverhand9028**

**Tom's POV**

When the cyclopes had approached the girls' hiding place, I had shuffled noiselessly behind a hedge. I had my sword in my pocket and shield on my back, so I was ready to attack. I spied a big, stupid one sniff around the tree which Lilly, Veronica and Summer were hidden behind. Suddenly, I felt a hand on my shoulder grab me. I attempted to turn around but another hand clamped my mouth shut. I was pulled back into the deep, dark, woods.

I was released and dumped on the ground. I looked up at my captor.

"Magenta?"  
Her black and blonde hair still was swept over her eye. But her usual relaxed, dreamy smile was replaced by a vengeful snarl.

"You," she spat.

I stood up and brushed dirt from my jeans.

"What do you want?" I raised my sword above my head and put my shield in front of me.

Magenta took a step towards me.

"You."  
"What? Me, as in..."  
"Dead."  
"Oh..."

Magenta attacked.

She drew her knife, and surged forward, snarling and hissing.

I put my shield up and her blade clashed onto the front.

I tried to lunge but she easily ducked.

"Magenta, what are you-"  
"Don't move, traitor!" she cried, running at me again.

"Traitor?" I asked, although it's admittedly hard to talk when a crazy girl is trying to knife you.

She kicked up and her grey leather boot, buckled with silver, caught me on the chin. I winced and rubbed the throbbing bruise with my sleeve, dropping back a little.

"Don't lie!" she spat, ducking a shield hit from me.

"What? You summoned the cyclopes to kill my friends, then plucked one of us off – namely, me - to kill us!"  
"Don't try and make up excuses, Wright," Magenta warned, pointing her knife at my chin.

"What?"  
"You knew what we were doing. You know how important our mission is. You are the traitor of Camp Half-Blood!"  
"Huh?" I stopped.

Magenta saw the opening.

She kicked me right where it hurts – not naming names, but you can guess where – and I stumbled right over.

"Any last words, you filthy little traitor?"  
"Magenta, stop making up these-"

I stopped talking as she pushed her knife up to my throat.

"Don't talk, Wright," she whispered, "I wouldn't want you to die spluttering out garbage."

"You'll pay," I growled, "Chiron will stop you."  
"How can you say such a thing? Chiron is a good, honourable man."  
"Don't lie, Magenta!"

Magenta spat on the floor.

"You disgust me," she snarled. "I swear I will saw through your neck with such vigour, you-"  
"Hey!" a shout broke the silence. Summer stood by a fallen oak, bow drawn and arrow pointed at Magenta's head. "Drop the knife and leave Tom alone!"

I have never been happier to see anyone in my life.

Magenta didn't move – that is, until Leon leapt out and kicked her in the chest.

Magenta screamed and fell to the ground.

"What's the matter dream girl? Can't stand the heat?" Toby grinned, as he and Veronica ran up.

Magenta glowered. She pointed her finger at Toby and focused. Her ever-changing eyes intensified for a second.

"What was that?" Toby shrugged.

Magenta grinned and began to get back up.

Toby stopped and yawned.

"Urgh, I feel..."  
Toby quite literally crumpled to the floor.

"Oh my god!" Lilly screamed, scampering out from behind Leon. "You killed him! You-"  
Magenta smirked: "Not dead."  
To prove her point, Toby let out a loud, nasal snore.

"Sleeping?" Samantha entered the scene with her arms folded.

Magenta shrugged.

"Be glad I'm not giving him nightmares. I've made people hit themselves and scream in their sleep, begging for mercy."  
Lilly gulped.

Summer stepped forward.

"You called Tom a traitor!" she cried.

I stepped up behind her.

"Yeah – explain?"

Magenta scowled, then turned to Samantha. "Don't trust these ones. The safety of the camp depends on it."  
I was shocked. How could such a lying, crafty traitor say that _we_ were the traitors?

Magenta skulked away: "I'll return to the Hunters," she said, then glared at us.

"I'll take you to the crevice Artemis left," Samantha offered, as we watched Magenta skulk away.

**Leon's POV**

The sun was sinking in the late afternoon sky.

We trekked through the wood and out past a little hamlet. Down by a highway, was a tiny wooded area. By this time, the sun was hiding down by a grove of trees on the horizon. A smudge of pink and orange sunset bathed the place in a godlike glow

"Here," Samantha pointed to a crevice in the ground. It was about as big as a surfboard and darkness was all that was seen down.

Summer leant forward and peered in.

"What's down there?"  
"Mars knows," murmured Samantha.

Lilly gulped and put an arm on my shoulder. I could tell she was terrified.

"You okay, Lills?" I asked.

She nodded: I felt like a bit of an idiot, caring for a girl is not something I am used to, but I cared about Lilly a lot.

I moved back and a ray of salmon pink sun shone into my eyes. I squinted and shielded my eyes with a large hand. Summer wrapped her pastel purple jacket around her, shivering as the sun sank and the light got weaker. As Veronica got up from peering down, she looked over her shoulder, her plait spinning round her head.

"This is a good spot," she said, dusting dirt from her knees. "I say we kip here. You know, whip up some dinner, then maybe we can do some sleuthing, find our bearings and figure out what to do next."  
Samantha shrugged: "I need to get back to the Hunters, assign them on a Hunt. I guess I'd best be going."  
"But they're a while away. You could be walking through the night. Just stay with us for a short while," suggested Veronica.

"No, I must leave. I've left my hunters for too long."

Sam turned on her heel and left.

"Well," said Toby, "no better way to celebrate a moody hunter leaving than food – Leon, break out the burgers!"

**There you go, another chapter down, and more coming. I'm particularly proud of the next one... AphroditeMatch Maker, you especially will like it, I hope...**

**-Silverhand9028**


	21. Chapter 21 Hunting for Love

**Hello, fellow demigods :)**

**Now for a new chapter, starting with a very pressing matter.**

**BURGERS! :D**

**Also, I want to thank the amazing AphroditeMatch Maker for basing her nail art on MY characters – that absolutely made my day. This chapter is for you – although I went over the plot and you may not like it that much...and Silverstar for naming himself after me, thanks so much!**

**R&R you amazing people :)**

**-Silverhand9028**

**Veronica's POV**

It didn't make sense.

I sat on the forest floor, my back against a slender beech tree, eating my burger. It was good, but it couldn't take my mind off my troubles.

Firstly, there was the stranger in the woods, who spied on Lilly and Leon. What had they wanted? Were they friend or foe?

Then Tom's shoes: who was it that said "Maia?", and why did his shoes do it in the first place? Perhaps a messenger from Hermes wanted to show Tom's true heritage and give him a present... but I didn't feel satisfied with that answer.

Next, Miss Avia. I'm sure I saw Lief kill her, but how did she come back to Camp and attack us? Did someone summon her?

What about Magenta, Jack and Aston? I wonder why Magenta joined the Hunters just before they came to us? Why did she pick off Tom, then call _us_ the traitors?

So many loose ends. So many unanswered questions.

I don't like unanswered questions...

It was beginning to darken in the woods. The sun's dying rays were beginning to fade: the large pink orb was barely visible behind the layer of trees. It was almost dark – and at that time, the monsters could strike.

I glanced over at Toby. He was sprawled by a log, clearly enjoying his ketchup-filled burger, dripping with fat and sauce. I saw Lilly, looking repulsed at Toby whilst she daintily nibbled her vegetarian burger – with low-fat mayonnaise and salad.

Leon was practising strokes with a retractable spear with one hand, while eating his burger with the other.

"How long will Summer and Tom be?" he asked, ruthlessly murdering a little sapling with one sweep of his spear.

"I dunno," shrugged Toby. "Summer left about ten minutes ago, then Tom said he had to go with her to make sure she was OK, and that was about... I dunno, seven minutes ago?"

"Why did he go with her? I know two heads are better than one, but she was only looking for somewhere to kip for the night."

I noticed Lilly's lips curl up at the edges, whilst I subconsciously did my 'I know something and you don't' grin.

"What?" asked Leon, noticing our smiles.

"Haven't you noticed?" I asked, biting my burger.

"Noticed what?" Toby stood, folding his arms. Leon retracted his spear and approached Lilly and I.

"Summer and Tom!" gushed Lilly. "They're, like, perfect!"  
"What? Summer and Tom..." Leon wondered. He paused. "I... never noticed that before..."

"Never?" scoffed Lilly. "But didn't you get that feeling?"  
"What feeling?"  
"When you see two people who you think go together, and you get a little tingling in your heart?"  
"No..." Toby took a huge mouthful of burger and spoke with his mouth wide open.

My eyes widened. "Lilly, it must be a trait from your mother! The ability to detect good relationships!" I cried.

Lilly gasped. "Wow! So I can sense when people work together... that's awesome!"

"But..." I faltered. "Summer told me she didn't really... you know... feel that way about him. He's like her brother, like her best friend, but... not a boyfriend."  
"I understand how she feels," Leon admitted. "I felt like that about Lilly. Like, we weren't cut out to be boyfriend and girlfriend. But it turns out..." he awkwardly fumbled with his jacket, not wanting to finish the sentence.

"Aw, Leon," Lilly blushed, "but we have to get them to realise they love each other!"  
I smirked, my eyebrows arching, like they did whenever I had an idea.

"Well," I smiled, "we've got to try..."

I secretively smiled as Tom entered the clearing, sword in his belt, caduceus shield reduced to a little snake-strap watch on his left wrist.

Summer followed suit, her arrows stocked up fully and guitar pick hanging from her Camp necklace.

I winked at Lilly who was beside me. She turned to Summer to show her white designer tee, the one that Summer said was her favourite. Summer noticed the shirt, stopped, and smiled. She then approached us happily.

I gestured subtly at Toby and Leon. Leon took out a basketball and bounced it on the floor and Toby took out a ketchup-oozing burger and took a huge bite into it. I saw Tom approach the boys – my plan was working. You see, Tom's favourite sport was basketball and he loved burgers. Summer loved to chat with girls – like me and Lilly were doing now – and also Lilly's top. I worked out that we had to use what triggered positive emotions and interests to lure them, so I reasoned mentally that we had to trigger subconscious emotions that would draw them towards us.

Either that, or they came to us because we deliberately stood in front of their sleeping areas...

Whatever the reason, we where approached by Summer, and the boys by Tom.

"Hey Summer," I smiled – trying to keep it natural.

"Hey Vea."  
"Find anywhere good to kip tonight?" I asked, trying to keep the conversation natural before heading to the topic of importance.

"Not bad – a tiny little hotel – like, twenty rooms, but really cheap rooms. They're doing an offer tonight: free for all girls!"  
"Really?" squealed Lilly. "Why?"

"The women at reception said the manager was some kind of feminist... and it's her birthday today."

"Cool," I smiled.

"All us girls for free," Lilly's glossed lips curved into a subtle smile – I saw she was about to put the plan into action... "some kinda girls-only party!"

Summer giggled.

"Like a cooler version of the Hunters," I joked.

Summer shuddered: "Ew, no thanks," she murmured.

"I thought you got along with the hunters fine," I mused, secretly pleased at how well our plan to make Summer realise she loved Tom was going.

"Yeah, they were OK," Summer shrugged, brushing back her hair, "like, I got along with Amy – this daughter of Apollo – but she'd be the friend I'd have."  
"We could join!" laughed Lilly, making it look like she was joking – I could tell the Hunters and their 'anti-love' scheme were not in her good books.

"Yeah, but what about the lads?"  
"Ah, we'd still see them, they'd still be our friends... unless you fancy one of them..." I smiled.

"Yeah – I guess I couldn't join after all then!" chortled Lilly.

"No..." Summer's sky-like eyes darkened. "I don't..."

I almost giggled as I saw Summer's cheeks redden. It was obvious she loved Tom... now to show her!

I glanced over my shoulder.

I could see Toby and Leon had started doing their work on Tom, by doing what they did best.

Discussing girl's body parts.

Typical boys.

"Did you see that Daughter of Hebe at Camp? What's her name... Dawn?" grinned Toby, "She's like, nineteen, but she looks our age because her mum's goddess of youth..."

"Is she the one with the..." Leon whispered something under his breath, probably quite dirty, and the three boys all guffawed with laughter.

"Yeah, and then there's that half-sister of Lilly – Kelly, is it? Well, I'd have her from the front... and Dawn from the back... if you know what I mean..."

That line from Toby got him high-fives all round, as Tom mimed something I'm glad Summer didn't see.

"No, seriously, I'm a faithful boyfriend," Leon said, glancing over at Lilly fondly. "You two got any relationship prospects?"

"Nah," Toby grinned, brushing back his curly dark hair. "Imma stay single – you can't go to parties and chat up girls with some other girl on your arm."  
Leon shrugged. "What 'bout you Tom?" he asked.

Tom's eyes darted about. "Uh... yeah... stay single."

"Not even Dawn?" Leon grinned.

"She's like, five years older than me."

"Kelly?" suggested Toby.

"Too skinny."

"Grace?"

"She's my half-sister!"

"I'd still say yes... anyway, how about...Veronica?"  
"No!"

"Lilly?"  
"What? No..."  
"Summer?"  
"N-uh..."

Leon stopped, triumphant. "No?" he grinned.

"Uh... no way!"

Toby winked at me.

I smirked.

Round Two...

"Okay," Lilly folded her arms. "So, we're like, a cooler, less miserable, boy-tolerant version of the Hunters?"  
I hadn't missed much eavesdropping on the lads. Lilly had been doing an excellent job at excelling our plan further.

"Yeah," Summer laughed. "But we don't worship Artemis."  
"And not all of us use bows and arrows." I added.  
"And we don't have wolves or hunting eagles." noted Lilly.

"Or miserable psychopath daughters of Morpheus."

We burst out laughing at Summer's joke.

"Okay," I smiled, "but apart from that?"  
"Deal," smiled Lilly.

"Totally," laughed Summer

I sudden loudly sneezed – secretly a signal to Toby and Lilly.

Toby nodded a subtle affirmative. He exclaimed: "Hold on – can you hear something in the woods?" The three boys stopped. I realised I only had a few seconds before they would have to start talking.

"Cool," I grinned. "We're gonna be the Hunters!"  
"Yay!" Summer laughed. Tom turned to look at her. "I'm gonna be in the Hunters!"  
"What?" spluttered Tom. I whispered "Yessss!" quietly – our plan was working at last! "You're joining the Hunters?"

A silence filled the wood.

"Tom," Summer laughed, "it's not actually-"

"Summer, don't join the Hunters."  
"What? Look, Tom, I'm don't want to go to the same place Samantha and Magenta are. I'm joining the Hunt-"  
"Don't... just don't..."

"TOM!" Summer silenced him. "I. Am. Not. Joining. The. Hunters."

"But... you just said..."

"No... Vea, Lills and I are the cool Hunters. Like the normal ones, but a cooler, less miserable, boy-tolerant, non-Artemis-obsessed, not all archery-orientated, wolf and eagle-less, Magenta-less, version. It was, like, a little joke..."

"Oh..." Tom looked like ten tonnes had been lifted off his shoulders as he breathed out in relief.

"But... why were you so adamant that I shouldn't join them?"  
"Because... Summer... I..."

"You what?" Summer and Tom locked eyes.

They both stared silently at each other for a few seconds.

"Oh my gods... you... you... and...me...I...I..." Summer whispered.

"S-S-Summer, I'm sorry..."  
"What do you mean?"  
"I just..." Tom hung his head.

"Tom," I noticed tears spring to Summer's eyes.

I smiled at Lilly, Toby and Leon. We had successfully got them to realise their love...

or had we?  
For Summer stared deep into Tom's irises. "I never knew..." she muttered. "I mean, you've always been one of my best friends, my brother, my family. I can depend on you, I can trust you, I respect you and I like you. But..."  
"Yes?"  
Summer, rather unexpectedly, started crying. Perhaps Lilly's emotional breakdowns had rubbed off on her.

"I like you Tom. But love, is..."

"What?" Tom looked like he was about to cry now.

"I don't know what I feel," she admitted, "I..."

Summer wiped her eyes and blinked away any tears in her eyes.

"Look," she stepped up to Tom and smiled briefly. "If – when – we complete this quest, then you and me at that burger place we used to go to, downtown."  
Tom smiled.

"Okay," he nodded. "It's a date."

I could tell he wasn't as happy as we'd hoped, but it was something, I suppose. He and Summer had a date. I trusted Lilly's inherited powers to sense good relationships, and I was sure they'd end up okay...

...hopefully...

**Whew, that was a long chapter but I'm pleased in the end.**

**What do you think of Tommer? :P**

**Do you wish their relationship could end up better, or do you not want them together.**

**This chapter's for AphroditeMatch Maker, who probably has Lilly's power, she keeps telling me who to pair up! :)**

**Thanks guys!**

**-Silverhand9028**


	22. Chapter 22 Rainbows, Dreams and Death

**You guys are the most awesome people EVER!**

**This Chapter is for AphroditeMatch Maker, you're so undeniably awesome with a Tommer poster (!) I am going to put you on my profile!**

**And now for some cool news. I am going to begin... 'The Silverhand9028 Awards!'. **

**It's simple. Each character will be doing awards. There is Veronica's Wisdom award, Toby's Party-hard award, Magenta's Dreamer award... you get the idea. Each chapter I will put up a different award. All you have to do is leave in a review why you should get the award, and why you match the criteria.**

**This first award is Tom's Friendship Award. Tom is friends with everyone – Summer and Veronica who are his best buddies, Toby and Leon who are his guy mates – and Lilly finds him cute! He's also one of the only people who doesn't hate Magenta – even though she tried to kill him! He's such a nice guy and many of you have said he's your favourite! If YOU are eligible for this award, review why you fit this criteria. If I think you are the best, Tom will send you a message about why you won, and you will go on my profile page!**

**I got inspiration from this by Poseidon god of the seas' review, so thanks.**

**Let the Silverhand9028 Awards... begin!**

**-Silverhand9028**

**Summer's POV**

I rubbed open my eyes and sat up.

It was 8.30.

The six of us had gone to the Hotel. Veronica, Lilly and I were in one room, Leon, Tom and Toby in the other.

_Tom... _I had a flashback to last night. I'd never honestly believed that we were anything more than friends. My heart didn't go _boom_ whenever I saw him, and he wasn't that handsome, or strong, or smart. But with him, everything just felt right. Like I could tell him anything and he'd just smile, accept it and give me a special Tom-hug.

I rubbed my shoulders. I felt like a Tom-hug now. He always had a way of...

"Hey Summer," smiled a voice, shattering my thoughts.

I saw Veronica exiting the en-suite bathroom. Her hair was wet and she wore a towel wrapped around her.

"Nice shower?" I asked.

Veronica giggled. "Fine," she nodded. "Don't wake Lilly though – she sleeps for ages every morning!"

I glanced over to the second bed. Me and Veronica had shared one, but Lilly lay, a bed to herself, red hair spread about over the pillow, a slender arm daintily dangling off the bed.

I nodded.

"Don't wake her." Veronica looked at me firmly. She knew my mischievous nature all too well.

"Ah, she's had loads of sleep. Can't we just-"  
"No, we can't!"

"What if I dare you?"  
"Huh?"  
"C'mon... Veronica, Daughter of Athena, never turns down a dare!"  
"No..."

I grinned. "Okay. We both will. On the count of three, yell 'Wake up' real loud then hid behind the other bed."  
"You won't do it," Veronica saw through my plan straight away.

"I will..."  
Veronica threw a pillow at me and we both started giggling.

"Okay, we each have food in our packs, right?" I asked.  
"Yeah."  
"You know I want your cookies..."  
"Summer! You always want my cookies!"  
"But you want my lollypops..."  
"Yeah-" Veronica faltered. She loved lollypops. "You have lollypops?" she asked, sitting forward.

"If you don't wake her up with me, I get your cookies AND my lollypops!"

Veronica's eyes sparkled. "It's on."

We both giggled like five-year-olds as we approached the snoozing Lilly.

"Ready?" I whispered.

"Three..." Veronica nodded. "two..."

"One!" both of us opened our mouths to shout, glanced at each other, stopped, and exploded into giggles.

"Okay, actually do it now..." Veronica laughed.

"Okay... three, two, one..."  
I yelled: "Wa-" then stopped as I noticed Veronica not speaking yet.

"Vea!" I squealed. "Do it properly now or I'll eat all your cookies!

"Not my cookies!" Veronica smiled. "Okay... ready... three, two-"  
"Erm, girls?" whispered a voice form behind us.

We snapped back our heads, terrified.

Only visible from the waist up, surrounded by a shimmering rainbow window, was Eddie.

"Aaaah!" screamed Veronica, wrapping her towel around her and sprinting towards the bed.

"Aaaah!" I screamed, terrified that Eddie had decided to materialise in our room at 8.30 in the morning.

"Aaaah!" screamed Lilly, waking up due to our screams, seeing Eddie, and being terrified.

"Girls, calm down!" Eddie yelled, "it's just an I-M!"

Lilly breathed out slowly – I could tell she was inches away from another trademark Lilly breakdown.  
Veronica stopped. "Oh..."

She nervously pulled her towel tighter. "Don't tell _anyone_ at Camp you saw me with just a towel on. Not one person!" she warned.

"Erm..." Eddie blushed as three people shuffled into the frame of the iris message, each one grinning at catching someone in just a towel.

Veronica muttered something under her breath, grabbed some clothes and sprinted out to the bathroom. "I can hear you from here," she called. "Feel free to continue without me." Lilly got out of bed and looked at the three people beside Eddie.

First there was Eddie, obviously, in a green hoodie and cargo trousers. Then a girl I recognised. She had silky black hair, cut very short in a bob. Her eyes were rimmed with black, and she wore a magenta and black striped top with an indigo alice band keeping back her glossy dark fringe.

"This is Bella Connell," Eddie introduced. "She's a daughter of Hades, and the Camp's Oracle."  
I remembered seeing her spouting the prophecy in the big house. Bella smiled briefly.

"Hi," she waved. She looked a lot friendlier without green glowing eyes.

Another person shuffled forward – a boy of around eight. He was very thin and pale, with light blonde hair, quite long, that almost covered his eyes. He wore a navy fleece and black jeans. I noticed his eyes. They were like Magenta's: intense, deep, shifting eyes that seemed to stare into my soul. I realised I knew him. He was the one who Lilly said had let her into the Morpheus Cabin, and when we'd tried to expose that Magenta was raising Kronos, this was the small pale boy who'd yelled across the mess hall.

"This is Matthew Mirage. He's Magenta's brother."

I gasped. "As in a son of Morpheus, or..."  
"Both."  
Me and Lilly exchanged glances. I could tell Lilly found him quite cute – he reminded me of the little kids at school who Lilly always said 'Aaaaw' at whenever she saw them. She was clearly shocked that he was related to her mortal enemy. It now made sense why he was shocked when he thought his sister had been raising Kronos.

"Most people call me Matt," he smiled nervously, speaking with an tiny, unbroken voice.

Lilly's heart melted straightaway. I sighed. Typical Daughter of Aphrodite!

" And I'm Ruby," announced the third person.

She was a smiling, happy girl who appeared about eleven. She had peachy tanned skin, full pink lips, sparkly blue eyes and curly cinnamon-coloured hair, quite long. She was dressed in a plain white summer dress, but she had hair bands in her dark brown locks of blue, green, pink and orange. On her ankle was a gold band encrusted with many different coloured jewels and on her right wrist, three technicolour friendship bracelets wound with threads of all seven rainbow colours.

"Ruby is a Daughter of Iris," explained Eddie. "She's keeping this message stable – we haven't actually paid any drachmas but Ruby has a knack of opening Iris-messages."  
Ruby nodded and smiled.

"So," Veronica stepped out of the bathroom, dressed in an olive brown, green-trimmed dress, "what's this message about?"

"All is not what you think it to be." Bella said.

"What?" Veronica sat down beside me on the bed.

Bella shrugged. "Every night since you left, I've been having dreams. About you... and the prophecy... and what you're doing..."  
Veronica leant forward intently.

"And you were told that 'all is not that it seems'."  
Bella nodded.

"I made a dream catcher," piped up Matt. "I used Morpheus dream magic to see and decipher the dreams..." He spoke slowly, pausing between sentences. "Basically, the prophecy is being misread... where you are going is wrong... you're actual destination is not what you think... and many other things."  
Lilly sighed and flopped back onto her bed. "So we're doing everything wrong," she murmured.

"Not everything," Ruby smiled optimistically. "The bow of moonlight and arrows of love appeared in Bella's dream. Matt worked on the images and they _are_ the weapons of Artemis, and Eros."  
"The God of Love," nodded Eddie.

"Isn't he technically... what, my brother?"

Ruby laughed.

Bella's eyes sparkled and she grinned: "However, the throne of steel isn't Hepheastus' throne in Olympus."  
"What is it then?"

"We don't know," mused Eddie, "and the helm of shadows isn't what it seems either!"

"What?" sighed Lilly, exasperated.

The image flickered – Ruby's irises turned technicolour as she sustained the message's viewing.

"I don't know," little Matt said, but Magenta said that... she was heading to Long Island for the helm."  
"Why does Magenta want the helm?" I asked.

"Didn't you hear? Magenta, Jack and Aston left about five days ago."

"What? What were they doing?"  
"They were..." Matt paused for a second, his large, adorable eyes glancing round. "they thought the quest... included them..."  
"What?" spat Lilly. "But it says 'the six'! There's three of them! We're the six!"  
Matt shrugged. "Jack went to Los Angeles to find the underworld and track down Hades' debtor. Aston went to Chicago – the last seen location of Eros and Aphrodite. Magenta headed to New York with the Hunters. They're looking for the items mentioned in the prophecy."  
"Why? Why do they want to do that?" I asked incredulously.  
"The six and three must form the nine, then the traitors shall decline." I heard Matt whisper.

"Huh?" asked Veronica.

"I just... heard it in a dream," he said. "Some hooded man came up to me and said it. I think I caught it in a dreamcatcher... I can show you if-"  
"Matty, only Morpheus kids can read dreamcatchers..."  
"Oh yeah," little Matt smiled.

"Well," Eddie said. "If you want to continue, there are three things you can do. You can head to LA, find Hades. Maybe Artemis' hole lead to there, or perhaps you can find Hades' debtor. Or maybe head to Chicago – Eros could be there with his arrows of love. Finally: go to Long Island."  
"Long Island?" asked Lilly.

Eddie nodded. "We don't know for sure what's going on there, but it seems like something important's there. We heard Magenta's stealing away to search for something – perhaps the Helm of Shadows. Lots of experienced demigods like to move to Long Island too, so perhaps there."

He glanced at Bella.

"Doesn't your mom live there?"  
"Uh... yeah," she murmured, her eyes shifting nervously.

Ruby whispered something to Eddie.

"Okay," he replied quietly.

Ruby turned to Lilly, Veronica and I. "I'm losing connection," she explained. "I can't hold these messages for ever. Besides, it's time for food."

The image began to fade.

"Bye girls," Eddie nodded.

"Toodles," Bella grinned.

"Bye!" called Ruby.

"Bye-bye," Matt smiled.

The message disappeared completely.

Veronica turned to us.

"So," she said, "where do we go? Los Angeles, Chicago or Long Island?"

**There you go!  
I know not much happened, but three important characters were introduced** **and I now leave the trail of the plot in YOUR hands. Where do you want my characters to end up – LA, Chicago, or New York? Leave your answer in the reviews!  
Also tell me why you're a good friend and YOU could win Tom's Friendship award!**

**-Silverhand9028**


	23. Chapter 23 New Directions

**WOWOWOWOW!**

**Loads of reviews, thanks guys! I have three things to talk about:  
Firstly – Tom's Friendship Award. Anon, toe walker and AphroditeMatch Maker were all the hot favourites, and clearly all good friends. However, lots of people mentioned ChildOfWisdom. They were saying they had volunteered to read to little kids – but ChildOfWisdom had told them to in the first place. I married Nico Di'Angelo said that they nominated ChildOfWisdom as she was such a good friend, and I agree. I mean, how many of you would have never had heard of me if she hadn't been such a good friend and posted the link of my story?**

**But, the decision is too hard. So read what people have said in the reviews, and tell me who you want to win: Anon, toe walker, AphroditeMatch Maker or ChildOfWisdom!**

**Secondly, I noticed that a lot of you like Twilight. Well, my best friend xoxoAlice does too, and has written a story called 'Sneaky Suspicion'. Read it, even if you don't like Twilight, as you will still get it because all the characters are human.**

**Finally: this question may seem a bit random but I want to know as it'll be important later in the story. It's about PJO character Nico Di Angelo. Although he is single in the series, many fanfics pair him with Rachel or Thalia. My question is: who should he have a kid with? Please review your answers – Thalia, Rachel, another character or a random mortal - and all will become clear as the story progresses.**

**This chapter is for the amazing person who named themselves: 'Silverhand9029's biggest fan', who's review merely was: I LOVE YOU!**

**-Silverhand9028**

**Veronica's POV**

"Chicago?"

"Long Island?"  
"Los Angeles?"  
It was a huge conundrum. Mixed opinions flew around the room. We were sat in our hotel room and had just told the boys about the Iris-message.

"Surely we should go to Long Island. We're really close to it and it seemed important, whatever it was." Lilly argued.

"No," Toby replied, "Chicago! Long Island would take us closer to camp, and that's stupid. People from Camp can just check out that. Chicago is much better."  
"I think Los Angeles," Tom said. "The Underworld holds loads of secrets. We can go there to track down whatever it is – and Hades' debtor. Plus, Hades is Bella's dad. I'm sure we're on safe ground there."  
"Safe ground? In the land of the dead? Seriously?" scoffed Leon.

"Hey," Summer retorted, "LA sounds good."  
"No!"

"Yes, you see, if we-"  
"Chicago!"  
"GUYS!" I hollered, silencing them. "Stop arguing. There's a simple solution – we just split up! We're all capable demigods, and there are meant to be gods in these locations – so if we get attacked by monsters, hopefully we won't be defenceless. Lilly and Leon, you can head to Long Island. Then maybe Summer and Tom-"  
"Tom and I?" asked Summer.

"Yes, you're friends aren't you?" I asked – but I was doing this deliberately. They were in love – they just needed some space together.

"Yeah, I suppose," blushed Summer.

"Mm-hmm," mumbled Tom.

"Great. So you two can head off to LA. Then that leaves Toby and I to go to Chicago. That could work – Tobes, you're really lively and quick and I'm tactical and knowledgeable."  
"Piece of cake," smirked Lilly. "We can cover all three places – then hopefully we'll find the bow of moonlight, arrows of love, helm of shadows, throne of steel, Hades' debtor and the brother of night."  
I faltered. "Brother of night," I mused. "I've never pondered about that part of the prophecy..."  
"Brother of night?" asked Tom. "Night can't have a brother... it's just night? Is there a god of night?"

"Well... not as such. However, there is a primordial goddess of Night. Nyx."  
"Nyx? And... does she have any brothers?" asked Toby.

"I'm not sure. She has lots of kids. Hypnos, Thanatos, Nemesis, Eris... lots of minor gods wouldn't be around if it wasn't for her."  
"Hmm..." pondered Tom.

"Anyway," Summer smiled brightly, "let's not hang about. We've got a quest to do – so let's do it!"

By 3.30pm, after Tom 'purchasing' some tickets, Toby and I were on a plane, flying off to Chicago.

Toby isn't a bad person. He'd been Tom's friend throughout school and was quite a funny guy, but sometimes he was just annoying! He had just put a fake rubber spider in my bag – I nearly had a heart attack – and now he was watching some kind of gory in-flight horror film, laughing hysterically at all the gruesome parts.

"Toby. Please. Shut. UP!" I groaned, trying to focus on the film I was watching.

"Sorry Vea, but this film is a FAIL-WHALE!" he giggled, earning him a glare from an old couple behind him. "This chainsaw is probably rubber, and I think that guy playing a dead body just breathed!"  
I sighed exasperated, trying and failing to ignore Toby.

"WOAH! FIIIIRE!" he suddenly gasped.

I started giggling myself. "I thought you found this film a 'FAIL-WHALE', and then some fire effects scare you?"  
"No Vea! FIRE!"

"Oooh, is that an _eagle?_" gasped a person in front of me who was staring out of the window.

I glanced out of the window. I saw a flicker of flames and smoke. Peering further, I noticed the flame belonged to something else. Something that should _not_ be flying beside an aeroplane...

**WOOP WOOP, ANOTHER CLIFFHANGER!**

**Sorry I took so long to update: writer's block + too many exams x taking a confusing French course for my GCSE = no time to write!  
However, I promise I will start building up my story climax – the Traitor will be revealed soon, along with Magenta's true motives, the truth about Chronos' rising, the prophecy's cryptic meanings and THE WINNER OF THE TOM AWARD!**

**-Silverhand9028**


	24. Chapter 24 Cliffhanger

**APOLOGIES X1000000**

**I have just returned from a holiday in France for two weeks (it was pretty awesome!) and not told you guys, leaving you awaiting updates for TWO WEEKS!**

**So I'd like to say a huge 'Sorry' to you all!**

**Also, it's the time... to reveal... the winner of the Tom's Friendship award! An overwhelming number of you, even those who were still in the running to win, said you knew this person as an amazing and kind friend, and I agree. So the award goes to... CHILDOFWISDOM!**

**Congrats, but you can still win more awards! The next one is Summer's music award. Summer's prized possession is her guitar, her beautiful voice can be heard from miles around, and it really is her passion. It's her 'thing' right from the start and she pursues her hobby as much as she can. Do you see yourself here? Are you a natural singer? A skilled guitarist? Do you dedicate yourself to drums? Do you give 100% at violin? Whatever it is, put yourself forward for this award and, like ChildOfWisdom, you could appear on my profile as a WINNER!**

**Also, xoxoAlice wants to say thank you for reviewing her stories, particularly 'Bella's Shower Incident' (I never got that story...)**

**Cool! :)**

**-Silverhand9028**

**Lilly's POV**

It was good going to Long Island.

We had the shortest journey, and I've always wanted to see Montauk. Tom had 'borrowed' a car for us and Leon, who had learned to drive at a younger age. The roof was down as we cruised happily long the coast. (**A/N the details will be very sketchy as I've never visited Long Island or anything. The only places I've been in America are Chicago, Michigan and a ski resort in Boston.**)

I turned up the radio as one of my favourite songs played on...

"_You're insecure,_

_Don't know what for,_

_You're turning heads when you walk through the door,_

_Don't need make-up,_

_To cover up,_

_Being the way that you are is enough."_

One Direction – What Makes You Beautiful. I thought of Summer as my favourite member, Harry, performed his solo. Summer was half-british and always pointed out if something was British.

"That's British," she'd say, if Veronica hummed Adele.

"That's British," if Toby was eating a Cadbury bar. (**A/N do American's have Cadbury's? It's the BEST!**)

"That's British," if I found One Direction or the Wanted in my magazine.

"Oh gods," Leon turned the volume right down. "One Direction. Ugh!"  
"No!" I turned it up to full blast, just in time for:

"_Baby you light up my world like nobody else..."_

Leon switched the radio over to a rock station and a guitar solo from an 'All Time Low' song blasted out. He head-banged like a maniac, keeping one hand over the radio so I couldn't change it.

I yanked his hand away and put One Direction back on.

Leon changed it.

I changed it.

Leon changed it faster.

I changed it faster.

Leon changed it super-fast.

I changed it super-fast.

Leon-

"LEON!" I suddenly screamed in horror.

Leon was too busy singing along he hadn't been concentrated on the driving. We were headed right towards a cliff...

Leon swerved the car. I was shoved forward in my seat as he desperately surged round.

The back wheels were on a deep slope! No matter how hard he tried, we were being pulled back. Leon quickly glanced back, and his foot subconsciously lifted from the accelerator. We dropped down the slope...

"LEON!" I found myself screaming.

Leon's usually brave face was terrified as the back end of the car approached the cliff edge...

We had survived harpies, psychotic daughters of Morpheus, knife accidents, evil snaky candy-sellers and four cyclopes... we couldn't be killed by a cliff!

But the car didn't stop. I grabbed on to Leon desperately, terrified.

"Leon," I whispered. "Don't-"

_CLUNK._

The car's back wheels clunked off the cliff edge.

_WHOOSH!_

The rest of the car was pulled downwards. In one, terrifying moment, we slipped off the edge.

We were plummeting down, down...

I was screaming and sobbing, having another breakdown as I held on to Leon's large, strong arm. Suddenly, a voice yelled something.

I looked up and saw a figure on a pegasus soaring towards us. I saw it was... an adult? The pegasus was deep black, and the person was a man.

The man came closer and swooped down. With an arm on our collars, he grabbed Leon and I, and bundled us onto the pegasus. Just in time, the car splashed into the sea far below – but the man waved his hand. The waves shot the car _up_ and it landed neatly on the cliff edge, unharmed!

I felt another breakdown coming on – I wasn't sad or scared this time, I was just overwhelmed that a strange man on a pegasus had saved us and magicked some waves up to save our car. Shocked, I looked up at the man.

"Who are you?" asked Leon, clutching his sword.

The man turned his head.

I recognised it from one of the photos on Chiron's wall in the Big House. It had aged slightly, with a thin line of stubble. His hair was black and tousled, with bright green eyes. He wore a sea-coloured jacket and blue jeans.

His sea-green eyes twinkled like pearls and he smiled at us.

"My name," he told us, "is Percy Jackson."

**I just felt everybody draw their breath in! :)**

**Didn't I tell you? This is set a few decades after the original PJO series...**

**Anyways, review and submit entries for the Music award.**

**This chapter is dedicated to fans of One Direction (who my sister is obsessed with) and the rock band All Time Low (who I am obsessed with!).**

**It's also for ChildOfWisdom, winner of the Tom award!**

**-Silverhand9028**


	25. Chapter 25 Feathers and Flames

**Hey people!**

**I've had only a few applications for the award – Toe walker and ChildOfWisdom – so more people send in why you are musical enough to win!**

**This chapter is for the awesome Jupiterrising2010 who helped me with several technical details :)**

**-Silverhand9028**

**Toby's POV**

There were flames out the window - flickering, great, tongues of amber fire.

The flames belonged to a bird.

The bird was beautiful in an odd sort of way. It's eyes were shining like two little rubies and it's claws were golden. It was about the size of an eagle with the feathers of a pheasant.

"It's a phoenix," Veronica gasped.

I grabbed my sword – a short, leaf-shaped bronze one.

"There's no point!" Veronica scolded. "We're inside the plane. The phoenix is outside!"

Suddenly, a window smashed. The great fiery bird soared in. The plane wasn't very busy at all, but an air stewardess screamed "Eagle! Eagle on the plane!" and several people were hiding beneath the seats.

The bird flew down the aisle and came at us. Veronica swung her sword at the bird but it didn't seem to affect it. A bolt of red-hot fire was building up in it's claw. Quick as a flash, the fireball was released and I grabbed Veronica and hauled her down. The fire smashed into the seats we had just been sitting. I leapt onto a seat and jumped up, swinging my sword at it's throat. The bird dove away from my reach and launched a fireball...

… completely over our heads.

Veronica and I turned our heads, confused, as we saw _another _person behind us, swinging a spear. He had deeply tanned skin and chocolatey brown hair, combed stylishly. He was dressed in a leather jacket, designer jeans and fashionable sports trainers (**A/N sneakers**). I gasped as I recognised him

"Aston?" I breathed. The counsellor of the Aphrodite cabin turned his head and winked before continuing to stab the great bird with his spear.

"You can't kill it!" Veronica yelled, dropping back. "The phoenix is practically immortal. It can only die by ageing. Time is the only thing that kills it!"

Aston grinned, dodging several fiery bolts. "I have just the thing," he smirked.

The phoenix squawked and dove at me. I ducked and swiped up at it, but the bird swooped nimbly just out of reach.

Aston reached into his shirt and pulled out a tiny glowing pendant. He held it to his lips and whispered something under his breath...

Nothing happened.

Suddenly, the air around the Phoenix changed. You know when it's a hot day and you can see the steamy evaporation and everything looks blurry – it was like that. Suddenly, the great fiery bird changed. First it began to change colour: the amber and crimson and saffron and gold, all dulled before the bird was completely grey. It had stopped throwing fireballs around now – it was smaller... until... in a small flurry of feathers and fire, a little heap of ashes sat there.

"Quick, separate them!" yelled Veronica.

I grabbed a pile and threw them out of the window that the bird had smashed. Veronica ran off to the toilets and flushed some down. Aston put the rest in someone's glass of water.

"If they're quenched with water the fire of the bird can't continue. Because after Phoenixes die, they return to ashes, which the Phoenix is reborn from."

"Forget that," muttered Veronica. "Why are you here? Did you send the Phoenix?"

"How do you know it didn't just attack us?"  
"Phoenixes are benign creatures – calm. They won't attack. Unless someone makes them attack..."

"But how did you do that?" I asked. "The ageing thing..."  
"Time powers," Aston displayed the amulet. "This is from Chronos! So that he can rise!"  
"Why do you need him to rise anyway?" asked Veronica. "He's a peaceful, calm god. Why is he attacking us?"  
"It's not him that's attacking us!"

"Yes he is, of course he is! Who else is-"  
"Oh my god..." screeched a voice. In a moment, we all realised there were passengers on the plane. Aston clicked his fingers. Suddenly, the mortals all settled down and continued.

"Just manipulating the mist," explained Aston. "Anyway, I'm going to Chicago for the same reason as you. I need to find the arrows of love – and sharpish!"  
"Not if we get them first," I replied.

**Unknown Person's POV**

They haven't noticed me yet. Sitting at the back seat. A relation of my master sent the phoenix... and soon I shall send much more. Looks like Chicago is going to be more than just deep-dish pizzas and big skyscrapers... ha ha ha!

**:O The Unknown Person has returned!**

**And clearly it's not Aston...**

**Veronica pic up later!**

**-Silverhand9028**


	26. Chapter 26 Old Demigods, New Friends

**Good news and bad news...**

**The good news: I just got the results from my GCSE exams, I got a B grade for my maths (which is really good for me) and another B in my Drama (which is bad for me, but I am resitting in the autumn).**

**The bad news: In a few weeks, I restart school and I will have to do GCSEs in more maths, half of my English and Science, and French. So according to my mom, writing FanFic will have to take a back seat and I will need to focus on revising. Sorry! :,(**

**I NEED MORE ENTRIES FOR THE SUMMER AWARD!**

**-Silverhand9028**

**Leon's POV**

The house was beautiful.

It was fairly big, with an excellent view of the beach and the glittering emerald see. The back yard stretched all the way back to the cliffs, with a little stairway carved into the rocks, so there was a direct route from the house to the beach. The house itself was an architectural masterpiece. Grand and artistic, there were Greece-inspired columns beside the front door, over which hung some bronze hippocampi, swimming in the air. The roof was painted blue like a Greek villa. I saw sleek sliding windows and beautiful sculptural additions to the walls. There was a little stable to the side of the house, which is where Percy landed his black Pegasus.

"Do I know you?" Lilly asked him, as he took us down from the horse. "I recognise your face."

"Maybe," Percy shrugged, "I'm on some of the posters behind Chiron's desk. And on that mural on the big house celebrating the seven heroes who stopped Gaia from destroying the world."

"Percy Jackson," I nodded.

"I live here now, with my wife."  
"Your wife?" asked Lilly.

"There you are, Seaweed Brain!" a voice called. We turned to see a young woman standing by the stable entrance. She had blonde hair, curled back into a ponytail. Her eyes were shimmering grey and she had a witty smile on her face that reminded me of Veronica.

"Allow me to introduce Annabeth," Percy grinned.

He kissed her lightly on the cheek.

"I'm Leon, and this is Lilly," I introduced myself and my girlfriend.

"Pleased to meet you."

Percy turned to Annabeth and asked "Where's Ellie?"

"Here!" giggled a tiny voice. Suddenly, a girl appeared next to Annabeth out of nowhere. Her hair was the same black colour as Percy's, only curly like Annabeth. Her large eyes were stormy grey and in one hand she held a Yankees Cap, like she had just taken it off.

"Haha, I was playing with the Hide-and-Seek hat, seeing how long it took you to realise I was gone!"

She stuck her tongue out at Percy, who scooped her up in his arms.

"This cap was mine when I was a girl," explained Annabeth, "but Ellie likes it now."

"I wanna play with Blackjack!" she suddenly whined, pointing at the stables. "Or Mrs O'Leary!"

Percy looked at the little girl. "Not now, Ellie, we have guests!" he pointed to Lilly and I.

"Is this your daughter?" asked Lilly.

"Yep, this is Eleanor Thalia Sally Jackson. She's six. We have a baby boy too."

Percy looked at Ellie, "Ellie, where's your brother?"  
"Asleep, I was just with him" Annabeth stepped in, then turned to us, "his name is Harry Luke Frederick Jackson."

"Let's play with the Hide-and-Seek hat again!" yelled Ellie all of a sudden.

"Ellie, we have demigod guests!" Annabeth told her daughter, "please, not the cap now. Remember when you played with it when you were four and we thought you had gone missing? We were looking for two days!"

"I was behind you the whole time!" giggled Ellie.

"At least call it something cooler than the Hide-and-Seek hat," Percy sighed, "Like, I dunno, the cap of concealment... the headwear of secrecy... the helmet of shadows..."  
Suddenly, Lilly gasped beside me. "OH MY GODS! The helm of shadows!"

"What?" I gaped.

"That's it!" Lilly squealed. "We came to get the Helm of Shadows! It's not Hades' at all! It's this! It's Annabeth's invisibility cap!"

Suddenly, a silver arrows whizzed towards us and landed – _thunk_ – in the wall, a few millimetres from Lilly's head.

"Drop the hat, sunshine," snarled an all-too-familiar voice.

I recognised it in an instant.

_Magenta_...

**:O**

**Please send in more Summer's award entries. Tell me why YOU are musical enough to grab the gold! This chapter is for Jupiterrising2010, for being too clever :) Thanks for the help!**

**-Silverhand9028**


	27. Chapter 27 Her Last Words: I Love You

**Helloooo!**

**Time for another cliffhanger (I know, I couldn't resist) as it is time for the ultimate climax! Things haven't really been mounting in tension, until now! It's time to drop several bombshells, as, in this chapter, you will discover an old demigod in need, a new demigod with a secret, the identity of one – just one – of the camp's traitors! Plus, there's a heap-load of romance... Oh, and remember Chapter 14? Tom revealed he would eventually fail to protect Summer from harm... that moment is now! PREPARE TO CRY!**

**DUN DUN DUUUUUUUN!**

**-Silverhand9028**

**Tom's POV**

"Bella?"  
I did not believe it.

The girl standing in front of me was familiar – to say the least. She had jet-black hair, cut short into a bob. Her eyes and lips rimmed with black, and she was dressed in a black leather jacket, miniskirt and Green Day tee.

She was Bella, the girl I recognised as a daughter of Hades, and the Camp's Oracle.

"What are you doing here?" asked Summer.

Quick recap – whilst our friends had been driving off cliffs and fighting Phoenixes, Summer and I had had an easy ride. A brief trip to LA, the easy finding of the Underworld entrance and a simple bargain with Charon – being a Hermes kid has it's benefits.

Now, we were here. Traversing through the Underworld, until we bumped into Bella.

"I was seeing my dad," explained Bella.

"Hades?" I asked.

Bella laughed nervously. "Erm... yeah... duh!"

"Why?"  
Her sharp green eyes darted left and right. "Just, you know, family meeting."

I didn't believe Bella. She seemed on the edge about something.

"Can you take us to Hades then?"

"Sure," Bella told us.

I glanced at Summer. I didn't need Veronica's thought-deciphering knowledge to tell me what Summer was feeling: confused, unbelieving and wary. This was the first time we'd ever spoken to Bella in the flesh: possessed by an Oracle and talking through a rainbow don't count.

Bella told us her dad was overseeing some important business at the Fields of Punishment.

"Oh, great," muttered Summer, "can't he be at Elysium or somewhere sunny?"

As we walked through the Greek version of hell, we passed several terrifying and bizarre images. An old, angry man pushing a boulder up a hill, some women pouring water into a huge jug, and a screaming man tied to a wheel of burning flames.

"This is... nice..." I remarked, as we searched the area.

Bella ignored my remark. "Here!" she beckoned us to follow her as we ran along some rocks, past a Pakistani terrorist I recognised from TV, who was being whipped with white-hot diamonds. Up ahead, I saw some black-and-bronze gates, behind which I saw a huge, gaping hole. It wasn't just a crack, though. I felt something coming from inside there... something that made my stomach churn. I felt raw power, a destructive hate, a force watching me and wanting, with a deadly passion, to smite me where I stood.

"This is the entrance to Tartarus," said a voice.

We turned and saw a man standing beside the gate. He was tall and handsome, with olive skin and long, silky black hair. He had a thin, short beard and was dressed in a black suit.

Dark, powerful eyes stared at us.

"_Dad_!" Bella whispered in shock. "What are you _doing_ here?"

I looked at Bella and the man in bewilderment. "But, Bella, you said you were taking us to your dad so why are you asking why he's here?"

"I didn't say I was taking you to my dad," Bella's pale cheeks began to colour.

"Yes you did," Summer crossed her arms, "we asked if you could take us to Hades and you said 'yes'!"

The bearded man looked at us, "I am not Hades. Hades is in trouble. As you know Bella, he was rescuing Artemis from the pit of Tartarus-"  
"What?" I asked.

"Look!" gasped Summer. I cast my eyes upwards to see a familiar shape on the rocky ceiling.

"It's the crack that Artemis fell into!" I gasped.

"It led to Tartarus," Bella explained, "my dad was here and he told me to come and check it out."  
"But now," I said, "your dad went to rescue Artemis..."  
"And was dragged in," the man finished. "However, Hades is not Bella's father."  
"What?" we both exclaimed at once.

"I'm not really Bella Connell," she explained, "I'm Hades' granddaughter, Bella Di Angelo. This man is my father, Nico."

"Bella's mother was... her name was Thalia. She was a Hunter of Artemis. She and I...

we had a daughter. It was forbidden of course. Artemis had no choice but to end her immortality."

Tears welled up in his sad, dark eyes.

Summer looked sympathetically up at him. "I'm sorry," she reassured him, "but we need Hades. We're on a quest. We need Artemis' bow, and we need to know something about Hades' debtor and the brother of night."

Nico rubbed his beard in thought.

"I don't know about those things," he told us, "but I know Hades can't help you. It's that pit – first Artemis, now Hades – gods are being snatched."

We opened the gates. Down below, I saw something flicker.

"Hades," explained Nico, "he's fighting it, but I can't get down there."  
"Oh my gods..." I gasped.

I turned to Summer, and gasped in horror. A strange fire burned in her brilliant blue eyes.

"I have to get him."  
"What?" Bella, Nico and I all gasped.

"Hades. I have to go down there and pull him up. I can do it. I know it. Whatever's down there – Veronica told me - they're confined. (**A/N I am sorry but for the purpose of this story I have to start making things up a bit. Sorry about that**) For some reason, they can reach gods. But not us."

She turned to me, and I gasped. "Tom, your shoes."  
"Summer, don't," I begged her, putting my hand on her shoulder. "Please. You can't. You could die. Easily."

She looked at me. "I must. I feel some kind of burning – in my gut. I need to go down there, I want to."  
"Summer." I took her hands, which shocked her – and me. "Summer, I can't bare to see you die. I... I love you, Summer Song."

I expected her to gasp, to balk awkwardly, to freak out. But she didn't. She stared into my eyes.

"I love you too."  
(**A/N Soppy part alert! I'm being nagged to make it romantic, sorry if this gets kinds ****weird or graphic**)

I pulled her in and kissed her right on the lips. I know, the top of Tartarus. Not the most romantic place for a first kiss. But with Summer it felt right.

We broke away and felt the gaze of Nico and Bella.

Summer looked at me, pleadingly. "Tom... do you understand? I want to go down there."  
I let go of her hand – I felt a stab in my heart as I hoped I'd get to hold it one more time.

Silently, she took my white Adidas trainers and put them onto her feet.

A ghostly wind blew from the monstrous bit. Summer's golden locks tickled against my face. They smelt of flowers and summer and happiness.

She turned her head and looked me in the eyes. "Maia!" she yelled.

Two ivory-white wings appeared on the heel of each foot.

"See you on the other side, Snake-face," she smiled. She slowly levitated up... then it all went wrong. The shoes snapped. The wings went haywire – flapping and vibrating, sending Summer up – then down – then all around.

"Summer!" I screamed out.

The wings stopped – then swivelled the shoes around. They were headed straight for the bottom of the pit.

"Summer!" I hollered again.

"I can't stop them!" she wailed. "They're out of control!"  
I reached up and grabbed her. I held her by the arm, tightly.

"Kick them off!" I yelled.

"I can't!" she screamed out.

I held on tight to Summer, refusing to let her go. I would _not_ let her down into that pit. Those shoes... I should not have trusted them. Someone else had control over them.

Suddenly, I heard a noise. I looked down into the pit and saw a flash of light – Hades trying to break free. In that one moment, my concentration was lost. My grip on Summer weakened. The wings let out an almighty flap – and Summer fell right out of my arms – and into the pit of Tartarus.

"SUMMER!" I screamed desperately.

"TOOOOOOOM!" I saw her, reaching out, falling down, down, down...

"Tom!" she screeched. "TOM! I LOVE YOU!"

I sobbed and reached out to her.

"Summer... no..."

Her falling figure was lost in the gloom and darkness of the pit. I sank to my knees.

"Summer..."

Nico placed a hand on my shoulder.

"I know how it feels," he assured me.

I sobbed helplessly, my head in my hands. Summer...we were together. I held her. I kissed her. Then... I failed her.

"Those shoes... someone had them under control." Nico pressed on. "Where did you get them? Who enchanted them?"

"I don't know," I whispered, my tears falling on the floor.

"Think back," Nico said, "where did you get them?"

I paused and looked up.

"At school... on my birthday. Somebody got me them..." a cold fist closed around my heart. I realised it in a second. The traitor. The liar. "All along," I gasped, "we never suspected him... the traitor..."

"Who?" asked Bella.

"The shoes were brought to me at school... by Lief."

**This chapter is for 'Weirdo. THAT'S ME.' who, very early on, easily guessed the traitor. There are lots of clues, lots and lots, which none of you got apart from this person. I will reveal them next chapter. Anyway, thanks for reading, reviewing, recommending and being awesome! Peace out,**

**-Silverhand9028**


	28. Chapter 28 Two Useless Love Gods

**LADIES AND GENTLEMEN!**

**After much deliberation, I have decided the winner for the Summer award – I know, not the best time seeing as Summer has just fallen into hell, but you know... anyway, the winner is... toe walker! Toe plays piano, french horn, mellaphone (still trying to work out what that is) and sings, and tries really hard with all those instruments. I play guitar and that is hard enough, so I have no idea how toe does it... so toe walker wins! Yay!**

**Anyway, next we have Veronica's wisdom award. Are you smart? Are you strategic? Do you have good insight? Are you patient, clever and determined? If you have the brain of Vea, remember to tell me in the reviews and you could win the award!**

**Now, back to Chicago, where Veronica and Toby encounter an old flying foe, a new romantic goddess, and the true identity of their godly foe. OH MY GODS!**

**-Silverhand9028**

**Veronica's POV**

Aphrodite was, with the exception of Mr D, the first god I had seen. You'd think being the goddess of love, we'd have to go through an emotional and challenging test just to speak with her. But no. She was waiting in 'Arrivals' of O'Hare airport, waving around a big sign that said 'Camp Half-Blood'.

I could tell it was Aphrodite straightaway. She had Lilly's sparkling eyes and wavy hair, although it kept changing, from chocolate brown, to midnight black, to beach blonde. Her make-up flickered constantly through all my favourite shades: scarlet and rose and amber. Toby – I have no idea what he was seeing, but he was drooling like a dog and grinning absent-mindedly. Gross.

"Hello my dears!" Aphrodite waved with a beautifully manicured hand. "You three look delightful!"  
Three?  
Then I turned and remembered Aston was there, swaggering proudly in his slim-cut chinos and designer jacket.

Aphrodite, who's look had settled with blonde princess curls and hot pink lipstick, smiled.

"Now, I hear you three are searching for some prophecy items, right?" she asked us, after she beckoned us over.

"Yeah," said Toby. "Well, actually, us two. There are four more. And Aston's just here to see mommy, I guess."

Aphrodite looked at Toby with disdain. She smiled at Aston. "Tobias Vin, the six and three must form the nine, remember?"  
Toby didn't seem angry at being called by his full name, but I guess being super-attractive does a lot for you. "What does that mean?" he asked.

I gasped in recognition. "The iris-message! Matt Mirage had a dream, saying 'The six and three must form the nine, then the traitors shall decline'. It's a message."

"Of course it is," giggled Aphrodite, "you are the six – well, five now – and the three are Aston, Magenta and Jack!

"But they're the traitors!" I argued. "Magenta, she attacked us, and then they let a hellhound into camp, because-"

I paused.

"Wait, what do you mean, 'five now'. There's still six of us, isn't there? Isn't there..."

Aphrodite looked at me pitifully. "Summer Song was doing a heroic deed. The shoes turned against her."  
I gasped in horror. "Summer... no... not Summer... anyone but Summer..."

Tears fell from my eyes. Toby looked at his feet, to sad to speak.

I looked up. "What do you mean, the shoes turned against her?"  
"She used Tom's winged shoes. They went haywire. She fell into Tartarus."  
"And there's no way our lord is letting her out!" cackled a familiar voice.

I looked up and gasped in horror. Around us, people were screaming, yelling 'rabid chickens!' and running. Aphrodite clicked her fingers and everybody in the room instantly froze.

Up above us, great wings flapped and an evil grin bared down on us.

"Miss Avia," I snarled, taking my sword.

The monstrous harpy that once taught me music flapped down.

"Hello godlings. Ah, Tobias, I see you've grown," she giggled monstrously. "Ah, and you must be Aston. The one with the pretty hair right?"  
Aston grabbed his spear, then subtly adjusted his haircut.

"Are you not dead yet?" I groaned.

The harpy giggled wickedly, flapping her wings. "Haha, ignorant godlings. Still haven't worked it out." Her eyes glinted and she leant in. "That's what killed Summer."  
That did it. I swung my sword at her, but she flew up onto the ceiling, cackling and cawing.

"What do you mean?" I hollered, pointing my sword up at her.

Aphrodite placed a hand on my shoulder. "Your friend was going to go down into Tartarus, but that's the problem. The enemy isn't Chronos. Magenta, Jack and my son here are trying to harness his power only for one reason. You see, Chronos is benign."  
"What?" asked Toby.

"It means peaceful," I explained.

"His power can help defeat your true enemy. The one being raised by the real traitor."  
"Magenta's not a traitor? Aw, I wanted to get to beat her up," whined Toby.

"Of course not!" Aston yelled. "We have been telling you all along, you know!"  
"Who is the real traitor?" I inquired.  
"That I cannot tell you, for the true enemy has shrouded them in dark mist. But I can see this evil god. A naturally twisted force, dark and powerful. The primordial god of T-"  
"Time?" I asked.

"No," Aston glared at me.

"What's primordial?" asked Toby.

"It means the god is a personified concept present at the dawn of time and they embody a certain object, period or other concept."

"You lost me at 'god'," Toby interrupted.

"Shut up Toby! Anyway, examples include Erebus who is darkness, Aether who is light and godly air, Tartarus who is the deity of the pit of Tartarus-"  
I froze.

"Oh my gods, that's it isn't it? The primordial deity of Tartarus! That's _it_! That's what happened to Summer. She didn't fall – Tartarus dragged her in! That's why monsters like Miss Avia keep coming back – monsters go to Tartarus when they die, and he keeps sending them back to us!"  
"Speaking of Miss Avia... where is she?" cut in Toby.

We looked up and saw no trace of our harpy music teacher.

"Here!" yelled a voice.

The most beautiful person I have ever seen walked towards me. His face kept shifting just like Aphrodite's – only in it I saw all my crushes. I saw Harry Styles, then Leonardo DiCaprio. Then he was Alex, the boy who gave me my first kiss. Then he was Brad, the handsome high schooler who once winked at me. Then, his face settled to a beautiful mix of all of them. His eyes were gorgeously seductive, as dark as cocoa. His hair was sandy blonde, his mouth a cool smile and his body perfect.

He was dressed like some kind of teen model – a tight, low-cut top, displaying some _amazing_ abs (don't judge me!) and cool jeans and trainers. However, there was a quiver of arrows slung over his shoulder, and a bow in his hand. In the other, he held a feather.

"I caught your teacher trying to fly away, only to swoop back in for a surprise attack. So, I just clicked my fingers and she... well, disappeared!" he laughed in a voice as rich as melting chocolate. "I took this little thing as a spoil of war."

He turned to see me standing open-mouthed, staring at his face.

"Allow me to introduce myself," he winked, then took my hand and kissed it lightly. "I am Eros, son of Aphrodite."  
Despite his charms, something in me clicked. "You're Eros!" I screamed. "You have the arrows of love!"

He pointed to his quiver. "These? Ah yes, I just shoot them and people are all over each other. You should have _seen_ what happened to Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie. My finest work, I like to think."

Then, something happened that astounded me. Aston stepped forward and said: "I believe we're brothers. May I have the arrows."  
Eros unhanded his quiver and passed it to Aston.

He then said: "Care for a ride?"

Beautiful, white-feathered wings sprouted from his bag.

Aston grinned as Eros grabbed him round the waist, and, with a flew flaps of his wings, soared out of the airport.

"Bye boys!" called Aphrodite. "Mommy loves you!"

Wow, if I was her daughter I would die of embarrassment.

"What?" fumed Toby. "That little rat! He stole our arrows! That was our prophecy! What does he want them for?"  
"I cannot tell you," Aphrodite spread her arms, "but you have to work together. The six and the three must form a nine – that's you six joining with Magenta, Jack and Aston."  
"But we're the six! We need that, the bow of moonlight and the arrows of love, to form a weapon at the throne of steel!"

"I can't help you with that. We gods can't directly interfere, remember. But do what you must. Join up with Leon, Lilly and Tom. The prophecy always has a way of working out, you see."

Aphrodite clicked her fingers, as the people suddenly became unfroze. The goddess winked at us, then disappeared.

"Well, two rather unhelpful love gods, if I do say so myself," I murmured.

"We've just arrived in Chicago, now we have to leave again," Toby sighed, "and I didn't even get to try any deep-dish Chicago pizzas."

**Lief's (formerly Unknown Person's) POV**

Ha ha ha...

The Summer girl is trapped in Tartarus. Drove her into my master's lair. And who'd suspect a little satyr like me, eh? Ha! Now, to release the chaos-monger. I have a feeling these guys won't be leaving as soon as they think. Time to release a load of _bull_... don't feel sad about Summer, you two... you'll be joining her momentarily. Now, to drive them to hell – literally!

**Lief has a nasty surprise in store!**

**Remember, wise ones, to send in your intellectual answers to why YOU should be the one to win Veronica's Wisdom award!**

**-Silverhand9028**


	29. Chapter 29 Shadows

**I'm baaaaack!**

**Guys, I am SO sorry! I couldn't post on fanfic, then I was posting my Harry Potter one (please read if you haven't) and I couldn't do this one…**

…**Please don't hate me!**

**But now, I'm going to try to update again! :) **

**And, good news! We have a worthy winner for the Veronica award! There were loads of excellent attempts, SodaIsAwesome and Sunset, especially. But the amazing ChildOfWisdom – who Veronica is BASED on – came, and blew me away. This was her excellent entry:**

"**I was in all Honors classes, recently moved to a Gifted and Talented Program. I'm going to one of the biggest academies in New York and the principal was SO impressed with my F-Cat scores, she's thinking of putting me in a harder program (or skipping me two grades ahead).**

**I have never gotten anything lower than a 90. My report cards are perfect scores and I have gone into many contests and gotten many certificates (there were mathatons, science fairs, stuff like that).**

**If you were to ask any of my friends they would always say that I am 10 steps ahead of you with 7 back-up plans. I am known for wisdom in school, also for my intelligence, knowledge and the way that I can remember everything.**

**I love history and Math, Science and Reading but mostly writing. I love using my knowledge to make twist and turns in my writing (an example is 'She's Mine'.) **

**There is nothing in the world I like doing more than learning. I have a 4 book cases (the big size) full of books. I always turn in my homework on time or even earlier.**

**When I see a person, I analyze them. I notice the littlest things, like the way my brothers eyebrow twitches when he lies. Or the way my mom's hand wiggles when she rights with her right hand (she's left handed).**

**I am very patient, very clever, and always determined."**

**Wow! She wins!**

**-Silverhand9028**

**Lilly's POV**

Magenta advanced from the shadows, her arrow nocked in her bow.

"What? What's going on?" Percy looked between us, and Magenta, like he was watching a tennis match.

"_Magenta_," Leon snarled, drawing his huge sword.

"Traitor, thief, liar," I agreed, pointing my knife towards her chin.

"Magenta is a guest here, she was attacked by a sea monster beside the coast – so Annabeth and I took her in." Percy told us, but I saw him take a ballpoint pen out of his pocket… a pen? What for?

"I don't think you understand, Mr Jackson," Magenta's black-rimmed eyes glared at us. "_I_ am here to find an item specified in the prophecy – the Helm of Shadows – and I believe your daughter has it. Now, for the good of camp, and the Western world, may I-"  
"_Bull,_" Leon spat, "she's trying to raise a crazy god who's been trying to kill us!"

"Chronos has _not_ been trying to kill you!"

"Oh yeah," I retorted, "then who has?"  
"You good-for-nothing little-"

Suddenly, a bronze blade appeared between us. Percy was holding a sword where his pen once was, separating us.

"If you're going to fight here, then you can explain what's going on."

"Magenta here is trying to raise an evil old god," I said.  
"He's not evil!" she interrupted.

"He's been sending creatures to attack us! There were Cyclopes in New York, and they said something about a hunter girl telling us where we were…"

"That wasn't me!" Magenta growled.

"Magenta, your side of the story," Annabeth was glaring at us like naughty children, Ellie standing beside her, terrified.

"Aston, Jack and I received dreams from Chronos, telling us to wake him from his 'casual slumber'. Basically, when he's asleep, time passes normally. But we need to wake him up to help him stop a great evil from rising."  
"Really?" I scowled sarcastically, "You said his sleep means time passes normally, so if Chronos _is_ raised, he will disrupt time!"  
"How is that possible?" Annabeth murmured "Like, the space-time continuum will be disrupted, meaning… the possibility of wormholes? No… there could possibly be-"

"Annie, enough," Percy put a hand on her shoulder. "This isn't Dr Who, okay?"  
As Annabeth grumbled something about not being realistic, Magenta smirked.

"That's not a good look," I snarled, but Magenta reached into her back pocket… and that was when all hell broke loose.

Magenta dropped her bow and arrows, just dropped them on the floor, and grabbed a knife from her back pocket.

"No!" I screamed. I didn't want her to hurt Percy, Annabeth or little Ellie.

Well, I tried to scream 'no', but it came out as 'nooooooo!'

I tried to run forwards with my knife, but I realised I _couldn't!_

My leg slowly moved up, and although I tried to move faster, I couldn't. That's when I saw the glowing pendant in her fist.

I was in slow motion, as if my limbs were encased in treacle. I saw Percy, Annabeth and Leon running in slow-motion too. As the pendant glowed, Magenta ran at normal speed unlike the rest of us. Of course: a time-manipulator of some sort from Chronos! I growled as Magenta ducked under Percy's arm and ran… towards _Ellie!_

Annabeth tried to grab Ellie, who was also moving in slow-mo, but Magenta got there first. She swiped the hat from the child's hands and placed it on her head… and disappeared.

At that moment, we were jolted back to real time.

Disorientated, I stumbled forwards, but felt Leon's strong arms grab me just in time.

"Thanks," I smiled.

"Where's Magenta?" Percy asked.

"With the hat she could be anywhere," Annabeth nodded

"Annie, go check on the baby," Percy decided, as his wife approached the house.

"She took my hide-and-seek hat," moaned Ellie miserably.

"I know, poppet," Percy put an arm round her. "We'll get it back though."

I was just about to start talking to Leon when four figures suddenly appeared in the shadow of the house.

We grabbed our weapons as they stepped into the sunlight.

"Tom!" Leon and I smiled, running towards him. I gave him a hug, and Leon clapped him on the shoulder.

"Who's this with you?" I asked.

"How did you get there?" inquired Leon.

"We shadow-travelled here," he replied, "the man is Nico, demigod son of Hades. And Bella… his daughter."  
"Not a child of Hades," I greeted the girl from Eddie's I-M.

"Yeah," murmured Bella, brushing back a lock of black hair.

"Wait…" my eyes widened. "Where's Summer?"  
Tom looked like he was about to cry, as Bella and Nico developed an interest in the floor.

"No…" I gasped. "No, no no no no no…" I shook my head, unable to comprehend what I was hearing. "No, not Summer…"  
I felt a breakdown coming on. "Why?" I sobbed.

"Lilly, I…" Leon put his large arm around me.

"WHY?" I screamed, breaking down into Leon's chest, literally crying on his shoulder.

His hand stroked my head softly.

"She's in Elysium now," he whispered.

Sobbing, I turned to Tom, who I hadn't noticed crying himself.

"We've got more important things to focus on," he nodded shakily.

I patted his shoulder sympathetically.

"Magenta's got the helm of shadows," I nodded.

"And we got an I-M from Veronica and Toby in Chicago," Tom added, "Aston has the arrows of love."  
"Great," Leon muttered sarcastically.

"Then there was the other part of the prophecy."  
We looked up and saw Bella standing by the house. Behind us, Percy, Annabeth and Nico were talking like old friends. I wondered if, due to their age, they were friends at camp when they were kids.

"What other part?" I asked.

"You know, 'Hades' debtor', 'brother of night'."

"What does that mean?" Leon prompted.

"Tartarus. Not the pit – the primeval god. It's alive, and being risen by a traitor in camp."  
"How does the prophecy show that?"

"According to mythology, Nyx, goddess of night, is Tartarus' brother. He was the embodiment of the Underworld before Hades came along, so it's kind of like Hades rents the entire Underworld off of him. That's where the 'Hades' debtor' thing comes from."

"So how do we stop him?" asked Tom.

"You _don't_…" laughed a voice.

We looked up to see Magenta, standing on a crest of a hill. On either side of her were Jack, bow nocked, and Aston, clutching Eros' quiver.

"…_we_ do!" Magenta laughed.

**Thanks for not hating me after the long gap!**

**This is for ChildOfWisdom, my new beta-reader, and for everyone reading this. Thanks for reading – oh, and please read my Harry Potter fanfic, Ravenclaw Misadventures, if you're a potter fan! Review :)**

**-Silverhand9028**


	30. Chapter 30 A Load of Bull

**Thanks for reading! Wow, 30 Chapters! Thanks for sticking with me all this time 3**

**I would like to introduce Toby's Party-hard award!**

**After the success of the Wisdom award, I want you to nominate yourself for Toby's award. Toby needs no excuse to jump up and get partying like nobody's watching! He loves to turn the lights off and make some memories on the dancefloor... what about you? Are YOU the life of the party? If you're the person who always turns the music up, the person who dances when no one else will, maybe even the host of some cool get-togethers, this is for you!**

**You don't have to have out-of-control alcohol-fuelled parties, just be able to make any occasion fun and lively with your energy and awesomeness!**

**Send 'em in, and read Chapter 30…**

**-Silverhand9028**

**Toby's POV**

"We catch the flight in half an hour," Veronica reminded me.

We were sitting in an empty Chicago town restaurant, with pizza in front of us.

"Yeah I know," I told her, "I can finish my pizza and Coke in loads of time!"  
She rolled her eyes. "You better be able to. The I-M from Tom meant we need to get there quick. He's shadow-travelling with Bella and Nico to tell the others about Tartarus."

She paused… then suddenly sobbed and crumbled like a dry leaf, her head in her hands, her shoulders stooped, her hair shielding her face and her body shaking.

"Gods… _Summer_…" I heard her whisper. "I can't believe it."  
I nodded. I wasn't as good a friend to Summer as I could've been, but I still mourned what Aphrodite told us was her passing.

"I know," I said, "but you gotta be strong, 'cause otherwise Tartarus will rise, and all of us, and the gods, will die."

Veronica looked up. Her eyes were red and blotchy, tears freshly wiped away. "You're right," she muttered.

I took a chunk out of a slice of pepperoni pizza. "Let's get ready for the flight," I decided, my mouth full of pizza.

"Sure," she added, sadly. "I'll ask for the check and we can-"

All of a sudden, I heard the piercing scream of a mortal. There was a smash of glass, the squeal of a car alarm, and then we saw it.

"What in Hades is that…?" gasped Veronica, as I dropped my pizza.

Charging down the street, with burning red eyes, was the biggest white bull I had ever seen.

The beast snorted angrily, its tail flicking as it cantered down the pavement.

"It's the Cretan bull," Veronica grabbed her sword and I unsheathed my shorter (but sharper) blade from my side. "It was the father of the Minotaur. Hercules killed when it was destroying whole cities…"  
"Wait," I replied, "you're saying this big cow can destroy cities? Oh, sweet mother… how did Hercules slay it?"  
"He jumped on its back and strangled it with his strength."  
"Oh, great," I scowled. "How do _we _kill it?"

"It's destructive, but not too intelligent."

"What do we need?" I asked shakily, as it approached the restaurant.

Veronica's witty smile flashed across her lips. "A plan."

She turned and dashed towards the restaurant kitchens.

"VERONICA! Come baaack…" I screamed out, clutching my sword. The bull neared, it's red eyes staring. "It's getting closer…"

"Just stall it!" she yelled from behind me.

'_SMASH!' _the glass in the restaurant window was shattered instantly as the bull ploughed through. Yelping, I leapt onto a table as the bull stormed into the spot I had been moments earlier.

"MOOOO!" I never knew 'moo' could be so terrifying, but as the raging beast charged at the table, I was honestly terrified.

Despite my lack of agility, I managed to leap away, towards the back of the restaurant. Barely fazed, the large, ugly cow began to charge once more at me. Glancing around, I realised there was nowhere to go. I was cornered.

"HEY!" I heard Veronica's voice, clear as a bell, ringing through the room. Turning my head, I saw her by the kitchens, holding a Margherita pizza in each hand.

She threw one and it sailed through the air like a Frisbee. Confused, the white bull followed it through the air, its mouth dripping with saliva. It sniffed the air, smelling the pizza. It glanced back at us, trying to decide what would taste the nicest.

"Here, have another!" Veronica threw the second pizza perfectly; it spun up and landed on the bull's nose.

Silence.

I knew that in any second, the bull could tear through us both…

…but it didn't.

The beast dropped the pizza to the floor in front of it, and then fell to chomping it up, snorting loudly.

"Toby, it's distracted!" she hissed. "Get it!"  
Realising what she meant, I swung my sword in the air… and all that was left of the Cretan Bull was a patch of white fur and a load of monster dust.

"Got him!" I grinned.

"Yup!" Veronica had a proud grin on her face, "these monsters can be calculating and clever, yet physically weak, like Lamia. Or, they can be strong but stupid, like this bull. All we had to do was distract it and kill it."

"Well, we'd better get to the airport," I remembered.

Veronica glanced at her watch, then exclaimed in horror. "Argh, we've missed our flight!"  
I swore and scowled – how were we going to get back to our friends in Long Island now?

All of a sudden, I heard a loud bark from the doorway. Standing there was a huge hellhound and a man with olive skin and black hair, dressed in black clothes.

"Who are you?" Veronica demanded, swinging her sword.

"My name is Nico Di Angelo," he replied calmly. "Tom, Lilly and Leon sent me. Magenta and the others are there. They have the arrows and helm."  
He gestured to the hellhound. "This is Mrs O'Leary. We can shadow-travel there."  
Unsure whether to trust him, Veronica and I exchanged glances.

After the defeat of the Cretan bull, we were both filled with confidence.

"Let's go," I grinned.

**Thank you for reading, I feel like I should apologise again for the big gap when I didn't update. Submit your entries for Toby's award to see your name on my profile! Thanks very much! :D**

**-Silverhand9028**


	31. Chapter 31 Plans, alliances and teamwork

**I have decided the winner of Toby's party-hard award!  
It was very, very difficult to decide as both Sonofposeidon1357 and SieSie (I think that's your name… or OMGDemigodishnes, or Percabeth and Pancakes… it wasn't clear) had great entries.**

**However, in the end, I chose SieSie, you sound so energetic and crazy like Toby :) Thanks for your awesome reviews!**

**The next award will be Leon's strength award. This isn't just for people who are physically tough and fierce, it's for those who are mentally strong too. Leon goes from mean bully to being everyone's rock, and he uses his strength to support the team, especially Lilly.**

**If you are just as capably strong as Leon – if you train to be tough and are dedicated to protect, this award is for you! Leave your entry in the reviews, or PM me it :D**

**-Silverhand9028**

**Leon's POV**

Down by the house, I peered up at the crest of the hill.

Magenta, with the cap in her fist, was smirking viciously. Aston looked smug and proud whilst Jack kept glancing around, like there were invisible hellhounds everywhere.

"Nico," whispered Percy, "take Mrs. O'Leary. Go pick up the others – Veronica and Toby. Tell them who you are. They're in Chicago."  
Magenta scowled as Nico and the hellhound disappeared into the shadow of the house.

"Now, Annie, take Ellie inside."  
Annabeth did so.

"What are you waiting for?" Tom yelled to Magenta and the others, tapping the hilt of his sword and readying his caduceus shield.

There was a brief silence.

"We don't know," admitted Aston.

I snorted with laughter. "What, you just expected that as soon as you got two of the three items mentioned in the prophecy, Tartarus would suddenly explode?"

Magenta snarled.

"Listen here, you dumb loser," she spat, "we've got weapons. And you haven't. So I strongly suggest you shut your mouth!"

Snarling, I strode forwards, "in case you haven't noticed the large double-handed bade in my fists, we _do _have weapons. And there are more of us."

Magenta took a bow and arrow from her back, and nocked the arrow so it was pointing at my face. "Another word, you useless Martian, and this arrow will be in your head."  
I saw Lilly draw her knife and stand in front of me, glowering at Magenta. I slipped my hand around hers and squeezed it, saying 'Don't worry Lills. I can hold my own against her.'

Jack nocked an arrow too, as he approached us. "Back off traitors. All the bad stuff has been happening to camp ever since you came! The hellhound, the harpies, and now you're thwarting our plans to raise Chronos!"

"How will raising Chronos stop Tartarus?" asked a voice.

I smiled as Jack, Magenta and Aston turned their heads to see Veronica and Toby, walking beside Nico and Mrs. O'Leary.

"Lief, the satyr, is actually the traitor!" Veronica continued.

A shocked silence followed.

"_Lief?"_ gaped Lilly.

"Looks like it," Toby shrugged.

Tom nodded: "Yup. He's been watching us!"  
Lilly raised an eyebrow. "But… what about Magenta?"  
"Looks like you need to forgive and forget," Nico's voice was heard, "if there's one thing I learned from my time as a teenage demigod, it's that you can't hold grudges."

He caught Percy's eye.

Percy nodded. "Right. Okay guys, you've gotta put this hatred aside. I don't know what's the deal with Magenta and co, trying to raise Chronos… but they're on your side!"

Lilly gasped. "Vea, remember the I-M from Eddie? 'All is not what it seems'…"

"My prophecy?" Bella gasped from behind us. She'd been so quiet, I'd forgotten she was there.

"Yes!" Veronica placed her hands on her hips and smirked slightly – she had an idea. "Remember Matty Mirage?"

Magenta raised her eyebrows in confusion; of course, she had no idea that the girls had spoken to her brother via rainbow.

Lilly nodded.

"He said: 'the three and the six must form a nine…'" Veronica gasped. "Aphrodite told us that meant us six, with Magenta, Jack and Aston!"

"But…" Tom was staring, crestfallen, at his feet. "we're not the six anymore. Summer is… is…" he began to choke up. I put my hand on his shoulder encouragingly. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Magenta whispering to Jack and Aston.

"She fell into Tartarus," he murmured, "she couldn't have survived the fall, and even if she did, there'd be all kind of awful things in there."

Lilly, always one for exaggerated emotion, burst into tears. "She's probably the first demigod ever to go down there!"

At that point, Percy, Annabeth and Nico exchanged smirks. "Well…" Percy grinned. "she's actually the fourth…"  
We gasped. "What?"

Nico shrugged like it was nothing. "Giants… earth… spiders… ship… you don't need to hear the full story. But I survived Tartarus as a child of Hades, these two survived by fighting together." (**A/N obviously House of Hades isn't out yet so I don't know how they survive… or if they **_**do**_** survive)**

"But how will Summer survive?" Lilly wailed.

Tom grinned. It was perhaps the first time he'd smiled since Summer's fall. "Of course!" he said, "Hades and Artemis were down there! They'd protect Summer, wouldn't they?"  
"She might be _alive_?" squeaked Lilly.

Tom shrugged, but he looked delighted. Veronica seemed to be murmuring under her breath; perhaps praying to her mom to keep Summer alive.

"This is great!" I smiled. "Guys, we're gonna defeat Tartarus."

"I'll help you," I heard another voice. We turned to see Bella, dark hair framing her pale face, her black clothes outlining her against the blue of the sky and sea in the distance. "I'll complete the six whilst Summer's gone… if, you know, that's okay?"

"Of course," Tom smiled. We all agreed; we weren't very well acquainted with Bella, but we needed someone to fill in for Summer.

Aston led his companions down the hill towards us.

"So…" he fumbled for something to say.

"We have to join together," Tom said slowly. Magenta's kaleidoscope eyes caught his. She opened her mouth to say something.

"Look," Lilly silenced her as she approached them, "I don't like you. You don't like me…"

"But.."  
"But we want to get Summer back… and stop Tartarus of course. Now we know that you want to stop him too, and you say that you can…"  
Magenta held up a small pendant. "A gift from Chronos. We three each have one. Individually, they can alter time. Together, they send a beacon to Chronos, alerting him to wake."

"And you're sure he'll stop Tartarus?"

Magenta nodded. "Tartarus wants to rise again. This will disrupt the entire world… all monsters and Titans will be free to rise. Chronos is, like, the oldest god, or something… he doesn't want so much disruption."

I nodded.

"Right. And-"

I'm not entirely sure what started next – the tidal waves battering the cliffs, the ground seeming to shake beneath or feet, or the scream that filled the air – or maybe they all happened at once.

Of course, we got close to making a truce, and the ground began to tremble! I grabbed on to Lilly as an earthquake rippled along, causing cracks to appear in the windows of Percy and Annabeth's house.

At the same time, the scream of a frightened girl could be heard from the coast, over where the sea had turned from a glassy green dream to stormy grey nightmare.

"That way!" Percy yelled over the shaking of the ground.

Our large group – we had gone from six schoolfriends to a massive bundle of assorted demigods – all followed him down to the sea.

There was Percy, Annabeth, Nico, Mrs. O'Leary, Bella, Tom, Veronica, Lilly, me, Toby, Jack, Aston and Magenta, all sprinting away.

Finally, we reached the water, where waves spat foam and hammered rocks.

I gasped.

Tom's eyes widened.

Veronica muttered, Lilly screamed, Toby uttered a confused: "Huh?".

I didn't know whether I was shocked, happy, upset, scared or confused: probably all of them at once.

For chained to a large grey rock, hair wet with sea spray, screaming with terror, and most definitely alive…

…was Summer Song.

**Don't you just love my cliffhangers? :P**

**Hoped you enjoy reading, if so please have a look at my other fics. Thanks for reviewing!**

**-Silverhand9028**


	32. Chapter 32 Beneath the Surface

**Guess who's now fifteen?  
It was my birthday on May 1****st****!**

**Anyway, review this chapter, it's for my fantabulous B-reader ChildOfWisdom, or Veronica, as you may know her. **

**ENJOY!**

**-Silverhand9028**

**Summer's POV**

Now, you're probably very confused, because I'm not dead.

Well, I never was dead in the first place. Tom was screaming my name, assuming I would die on impact, or be destroyed by whatever lurked beneath the black mists of the void. As I fell, I could see black rock, rushing towards me as I neared the bottom of the pit.

But despite what everyone above me thought, I was still intact as I landed on the cold, stony surface…

I sat up, slowly, and peered around in the gloom.

"You must be Summer," a voice from behind me whispered.

I could see a young woman in white, silver and grey, with brown hair tied back, holding a silvery bow. Artemis.  
"What's happening?" I asked the tall, slender woman.

"You're one of the six?" she ignored my question.

I nodded.

"Tartarus was talking about dragging you – well, one of you – down here. He took Hades to try and get the helm of shadows, but when it turned out it wasn't his helm, he took me to get to my bow. Eros escaped him, so he turned his attention to you."

"Me?"

"Yes. Tartarus knows the prophecy is predicting a way to defeat him, so he's trying to stop it from happening."

"Where is Tartarus? What is Tartarus?" I asked.

"He is all around us, child," a different voice said.

I turned my head to see a tall, pale man dressed in black. He had something of Bella in his eyes, and the same face as Nico.

"Lord Hades," I awkwardly curtsied before the Lord of the Dead.

"I was wearing my helm, spying on Tartarus – the actual form of the god. The god can take form, you see… yet he's different. He's like Nyx or Chronos or Erebus. Primordial. Primeval. Old: very old. It's more like me and Thanatos. I'm the god of death, its ruler. He _is_ death, personified."

"So, Tartarus…" I murmured.

"…_is_ this pit. He can hear us. He's watching us." Artemis finished.  
I wrapped my hands around my shoulders, and glanced around, terrified.

"Don't worry," she glanced at me with witty brown eyes. "He can't touch us."  
"But I can." smirked a scarily familiar voice.

A third figure appeared in the gloom of the tunnel. His hair was curly auburn, his eyes grass green. His amused smile and abundant freckles made him look like a harmless kid… but the spear pointed at me gave a different impression.

"_Lief_?"

The satyr strode towards me. "Hello there, you three. My, aren't we an odd bunch?"

"You!" I cried. "You're the traitor! You enchanted Tom's shoes and, bewitched us in Central Park, and… we chased you in the camp woods, Vea and I! Then you disappeared…"

Lief produced his panpipes. "A bit of woodland magic. Very impressive guesswork, however."

I turned to the two gods either side of me, as if to say: 'Why aren't we vaporizing him now?'

Lief grinned as if he was reading my thoughts. "In case you're wondering, they can't touch me. Tartarus' power protects me."

"You little _rat!_" I began to grow angry. "You won't get away with this!"  
Lief laughed. "Won't I? The demigods are torn, squabbling like vultures. But if they survive, I'm sure they'll come to rescue you, where Tartarus and I will finish them off. If they believe you to be dead, which is most likely, we will leave you as bait, wait for them to charge into our trap, kill you and finish them off. Now, if I'm not mistaken, I must leave. I need to introduce Veronica and Toby to a large angry cow."

"You leave my friends alone!" I went to run towards him but he disappeared in a swirl of dark mist.

I shivered. Lief would kill all my friends, then me – or kill me, then all my friends. I always try to be optimistic, try to see above the situation: but now I could see there was no way.

"What do we _do_?" I whispered.

Hades strode forwards. "Tartarus!" his voice boomed around the pit. "I am Lord of the Underworld! I am King of the Dead! I reign supreme over shades and spirits of decay, daemons and deities of the afterlife! Cease to be, leave this place!" his eyes flashed red; an aura of black and purple momentarily flickered around him.

"Cover your eyes," hissed Artemis. I did so.

After a flash of light, I was told I could open them again.

"What happened?" I asked.

"A bit of godly trash-talking," grinned Artemis. "Hades rules the Underworld. Tartarus is free and chaotic, but Hades can still have some influence. That kind of thing can completely destroy stuff, but Hades' being down here means it only temporarily knocks Tartarus out. Now, we can do what we need to in peace."  
"And what do we do need to do?" I asked.

"Can you fight, child?" Hades asked me again.

I glanced up to see him. He wore a circlet of deep, intense black shadows on his head - although as I looked at it, its form changed; from a crown of bloodstained bones, to a grey dusty hood, to a great black helmet with a purple flames in place of a plume. I knew it must be his famous helm of terror.

"I can aim a bow," I admitted, feeling terribly nervous before this scary god.

He nodded slowly.

"Well, I have been snooping around this pit with my helmet, so that not even the pit itself – Tartarus – could stop me. I have found an exit."

I gasped.

"So," smirked the King of the Underworld, "who wants to go home?"

We ran along the tunnel, to where Hades said we were closest to the earth's surface.

Artemis led the way, with the grace and speed of an athlete, the determination and focus of a huntress. I followed, trying not to fall flat on my face. I was clumsy at the best of times! Behind, I could hear Hades' footsteps. I couldn't imagine him hitching up his robes and sprinting, and was curious about how he kept behind – however, I knew that if I stopped to look I'd lose us what precious little time we had left, before Tartarus regained consciousness.

"This way!" Artemis pointed to a fork in the tunnel, and we scrambled after her.

Left, then right, then right again, my heart was in my mouth.

"Here!" Hades said. We skidded to a halt.

"I'm confused," I admitted. "How is it that here we can escape?"  
"This place," Hades told me. "Some demigods – Percy Jackson and Annabeth Chase – they were in Tartarus once before. They escaped, and as they did, several rips between the Underworld and earth were formed. This one leads to a beachfront of Long Island. It's the closest one to camp."  
I nodded.

"Stop right there!" a sudden voice squawked.

Behind us, grinning happily, was Miss Avia.

"That love god may have got rid of me up there," she snarled, "but Tartarus won't let me fade. I've been yearning for your blood for so long, Summer Song!"

My daughter-of-Apollo mind said 'That rhymes!' but my instincts made me leap and roll to one side. For once, I was thankful for my ADHD.

Artemis fired an arrow, but it bounced off the harpy's skin and snapped in two.

"Tartarus' power protects me!" Miss Avia shrilled insanely.

"_Gamoto,_" murmured Artemis.

I translated that as a very rude Greek word.  
A ball of green fire crackled to life in Hades' hand. "Artemis, I will distract the harpy. Take Summer to the surface. Give her your bow."  
Artemis nodded.

She thrust her silver bow into my palm. "Magenta and Aston have the helm and arrows."  
"_What_?" I shrieked.

"Don't worry, they're on your side. I'll blast through, then you're on your own."  
I nodded. I could hear Miss Avia screaming, Hades yelling.

"Ready?" she asked.  
"Ready." I confirmed.

Artemis threw an arrow, then blinding sunlight concealed my view. I felt myself soaring up, up, up…

…then something cold and heavy wrapped itself around my body. I opened my eyes to see a chain snaking around me. I was pressed against a rock on a beach. I screamed loudly as the ground started to shake and the waves rose up in fury.

Lief appeared before me, laughing coldly. "Fell right into the trap, didn't you? Bet you three gold drachmas you're the first to die."  
Then he disappeared into the stormy air. The waves soaked me, before I heard a "Huh?' to my left.

There, standing before me, were Tom, Veronica, Toby, Leon, Lilly, Magenta, Jack, Aston, Bella, a hellhound and some adults.

Tom ran towards where I was chained to the rock…

…and then chaos exploded onto the beach.

**Ah, how I enjoy cliffhangers!  
Thanks for reviewing and recommending to your friends,**

**From a now 15-YEAR-OLD, **

**-Silverhand9028**


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